


Unforeseen

by TheWalkingDeathEater



Series: Living Potters [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Character Death, F/M, Family, Good Peter Pettigrew, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Love/Hate, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Romance, Slow Burn, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 42,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWalkingDeathEater/pseuds/TheWalkingDeathEater
Summary: September 1st, 1976. The scarlet of the Hogwarts Express is the same colour as Lily Evans' hair as she boards for her sixth year of Hogwarts.Elsewhere in the castle, a Slytherin clad in green, silver and shadows plots to give Lord Voldemort the upper hand in the war. Lives clash, and Lily finds her best friend caught in the crossfire. Given no other choice, Lily must accept the help of James Potter, the boy who has made her life hell since their very first year.As time runs out, Lily and the Marauders must work together and keep Voldemort from winning at all costs.*this is an ongoing fic, which means not all chapters will be updated regularly.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Mary Macdonald/Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin/Dorcas Meadowes, Sirius Black/Marlene McKinnon
Series: Living Potters [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556257
Comments: 13
Kudos: 32





	1. September

The violent breeze of Autumn threatened to slow down the Evans family as they piled into their car on the 1st September, 1976. A blonde woman in an oddly patterned kaftan threw a trunk into the boot of a Morris Marina, her husband's prized possession. He was sat in the driver's seat, his fingers tapped the steering wheel impatiently. He stopped for a moment to look up into the top left window of the house, and flinched when he made eye contact with the sour faced girl glaring into the garden below. To the neighbours and the outside world, the Evans family looked rather normal. And truthfully, most of them were.

Except for their youngest daughter.

Lily hauled her cat-cage into the garden, stopping to look behind her. Inside the doorway stood her sister's walrus of a boyfriend, Vernon. He'd grown a rather scraggly moustache while she had been at Hogwarts, and it wiggled in the wind. Lily fought back the urge to laugh (or vomit) and continued up to the car. Her cat, Bobbins, looked rather annoyed when she strapped the cage into the seat and slid in after him.   
"Are you forgetting something?" Her father asked. Lily sat, and thought about what she could possibly be forgetting. She had her trunk in the boot, Bobbins was next to her, and her robes were in a plastic bag on her lap. What else could she possibly-  
Her wand! Cripes, how could she have forgotten it? Her father chuckled as she dashed back into the house and past Vernon to retrieve her wand from her room. Petunia was sat on the other bed, combing her fingers through her damp hair. She paused to glare at her sister, and then went back to grooming herself.

Lily's relationship with her sister was most definitely a rocky one. Petunia would accuse Lily of using magic to steal her hairbrush or something, and then they would fight until Petunia eventually found whatever she'd lost, usually in the exact same place she had left it.

"Why haven't you left yet?" Petunia snapped. Lily rolled her eyes, but answered her sister as nicely as possible.

"I left my wand. Sorry for disturbing your special ritual."

"Hmmph. Vernon and I are going to this new cafe just outside of Cokeworth. It's got this really ace garden you can smoke in-"

"If Mum finds out you've been smoking-"

"She won't. And you're not going to tell her, are you?" For a moment, Lily really considered it. But she was already at odds with Petunia, and making her angrier wasn't a good idea.

If they were anywhere but their hometown, nobody would guess that they were sisters. Petunia had their mother's blonde hair, and she'd recently gotten it cut and styled to look just like Farrah Fawcett after watching 'Logan's Run'. Her eyes were a pale blue and beady, seemingly prying into your business, even when Petunia didn't mean to. Lily, on the other hand, had green eyes, and a mane of dark red hair that she let tumble down her back.

"Whatever, Petunia. I'm going now, goodbye" Lily called over her shoulder, Petunia said nothing, and turned her back to the door as Lily left.

"You okay, Lils?" Her mum asked. Lily nodded and slammed the car door shut. She could see Petunia glowering at her from the bedroom window. Lily's mum got into the front passenger seat and pushed a pair of sunglasses up on her head. "Are you sure you don't want to wait for Severus?"

Ouch. Lily felt that classic Gryffindor fire burn through her lungs. "I'm very sure, Mum." She replied coldly. Rosalie Evans exchanged a worried look with her husband, Harold, but never said a word. Harold started the car and drove away from the house. It would be a long drive to Kings Cross. To make the journey seem shorter, her Mum turned on the radio. Lily was forced to sit in the back as her parents belted out to Bob Dylan songs at the top of their lungs, badly. Every so often her dad's head would bob from side to side. Bobbins hissed after they went over a speedbump.

"Dad, slow down. Bobbins is rocking all over."

"Bobbins needs to cool down. I've got scratches all over my arms again." Lily had pried her cat from her father far too many times now, it was just better if they stayed away from each other. "And we're here! Kings Cross, m'lady." Her dad jogged to the car boot and began to drag her trunk towards the platform. He narrowly avoided backing into the heels of a haughty looking Muggle with an orange tan and a pantsuit. He ignored her irritated growl in his direction and pointed towards the barrier. "Look who's waiting, kiddo."

A dark haired girl was sat against the wall, her wand was tucked behind her ear. She was chewing gum. Heavy eyeliner had been smeared underneath her eyes, her hair was wild and a little greasy. Dorcas noticed Lily's mum first.

"Oh, Dorcas, hey. Nice boots." If Petunia had been there, she would have made a snide remark about punks, and how stupid Dorcas looked. But Petunia hadn't come with them for years, and that wouldn't change now.

"Thanks. Lils, you want me to take Bobbins?"

"Where's all your stuff?"

"Already on board. Marlene found us a compartment, if we can get there before Fiona and Octavia." The other two girls in Gryffindor. Fiona Donaldson was mild mannered, if a little bossy. Octavia Harrow, on the other hand, should have been a Slytherin. She was fairly ambitious, and quite cunning, but had practically begged the Sorting Hat for Gryffindor to please her mother. Lily would have pitied her if Octavia wasn't so self-entitled.

"Here." Rosalie handed Bobbins' cage to Dorcas. Lily and her friend stopped outside the barrier so Lily could say goodbye to her parents. Harold trapped her in a tight hug, and Rosalie gave her a kiss on the cheek. As she pulled away, her Mum whispered "I can't believe you're leaving me with your sister." A joke that would be kept between Lily and her mum. Petunia was living with Vernon now, they'd moved into a little flat. Lily's parents were secretly saving up to buy a house in Surrey for them, as far away from their home as possible.

Lily smiled at Dorcas, took a deep breath, and marched through the barrier. The whistle of the steam engine was the first delightful sound she heard on Platform 9 and 3/4. The sound made her feel at home, like she'd never been away from Hogwarts. Through the sea of students, both new and old, she spotted several face she recognised. A chubby faced girl stood with a boy and his mother, who sported green robes and a bright red handbag. A gang of haughty looking witches and wizards in green and silver; she knew them by their surnames. She glanced away when one locked eyes with her, his long hair fell into his dark eyes.

On the other side of the platform was a family with two sons, one in green and silver, the other had a red and gold tie hanging from his pocket. His top buttons were undone. Green eyes met grey, and Lily snorted in disgust and brushed through the crowds. She knew him far too well.

"The train won't be as packed this year." Dorcas added solemnly. "You-Know-Who and his followers are getting more and more violent. They attacked eight muggleborn families in the last two months." As fierce and stubborn as Dorcas was, she was as scared of the ongoing war as everyone else. "It's wack, man. In my opinion, if you have magic, you have magic. Your blood shouldn't matter." It meant a lot to Lily, especially coming from a Pureblood like Dorcas. Marlene, Octavia and Alice were also Purebloods. Fiona was a half-blood, whilst Mary and Lily were muggleborn students, and likely targets.

The fact that almost half of Lily's friends could be killed, including herself, was a heavy weight on her shoulders.

  
~

  
They dragged the Lily's things up and down the train to find Marlene. She wasn't too hard to spot; her mane of blonde hair had yet to be seen perm-less.

"Lily!" She bounced up and clutched Lily tightly, her nails threatening to break the skin. "You're here later than usual. I managed to score this ace compartment,it's right at the back, so we can avoid the crowds of firsties."

"Firsties? God, that is such a Sirius thing to say." Marlene went red, but didn't argue back. It was clear who she'd spent her summer with. Lily was amazed that her best friend could be so stupid. Sirius Black was- to put it plainly- a wanker. He and Marlene had been messing around since the middle of fifth year. As a Prefect, she'd been forced to report them more than once for smoking, getting high, and being found in broom closets together. She hoped Remus had also done the same, but he would likely have wilted under the pressure of reporting one of his fellow 'Marauders'.

Ugh, she hated them all. Well, not quite. Remus was okay, and Peter lived very close to Cokeworth, so she had to remain civil. But Black and Potter were prats.

"Are we sitting down or..." Dorcas slid past Lily and Marlene and flopped into the seat next to their other friend, Mary. She was deep into a book, only the top of her head was visible. "Earth to Mary." The tiny girl's head popped out of her book and grinned at the other three.

"Hey, I missed you guys."

"Fooey." Marlene scoffed. "You were having an ace time in America ALL summer."

"You're right, I was."

"Soo..." Marlene leaned forward and pressed her palms into Mary's knees. "Give me the skinny. Did you meet any cute guys?"

"MARLENE!" Lily hissed, pinching her side. She yelped and rubbed the spot, glaring at her.

"Oww, what? I was just asking."

"Uh huh." She didn't have the chance to respond, because the door slid open again to reveal a very flustered Fiona. She hunkered down in the seat next to Dorcas and pulled out a a pumpkin pasty.

"Anybody want some?" She offered it around. The pasty was stale and flaking. Lily turned her down politely, wrinkling her nose. Marlene was not as nice.

"It smells rancid. How long have you had it?"

"Not long. I bought it yesterday, but I forgot about it and left it on the table." She pulled up her pet cage and placed it on her lap. "Sorry." Fiona munched on her pasty and pulled a face. "Ugh, you were right." She tore it apart, and fed it to the tiny kitten inside the cage instead. Lily found an elbow dug in her side before she could even begin to point out how idiotic it was to feed the cat a pasty.

"New pet?" Dorcas noted. "I thought you had an owl."

"I did. It died last week."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was dad's owl before it was mine, it just got really old." She explained. Her new kitten was scraggly, and had long white hairs sprouting from its head, giving the appearance of eyebrows.

Octavia and Alice didn't turn up until after the train had left the station. Alice saw that there wouldn't be enough room for both, and she offered to sit with Octavia in another compartment. It left the five of them sitting rather comfortably.  
Lily changed into her robes when the sky started to get dark. The Prefect badge pinned to her lapel was shiny, a sign of trust and authority. It would be Lily's job to escorts all the little ones to Gryffindor tower for their first night in Hogwarts.  
She thought about what Dorcas had said, about the lack of muggleborn students this year. Lily couldn't imagine all those little kids, their smiling faces, all excited to learn magic and be apart of something amazing. And they would never get here. This war had to end soon. It had to.

"If he walks past here one more time..." Marlene growled. Lily glimpsed a boy in green lined robes disappear up the corridor. "I'm going to hex him so he can't move until Christmas."

"Don't bother. He wouldn't be stupid enough to do anything." Lily replied half-halfheartedly. Truthfully, she'd been ignoring him every time he ghosted past. She wanted nothing to do with him, not anymore.

"I hear he hangs around with all the wannabe Voldemort bootlickers. Mulciber, Avery, Rosier, you name it."

"Didn't picture Rosier as the Death Eater type."

"Neither did I, always thought he was too far up his own arse to follow someone like Voldemort." Dorcas sucked in a breath as Marlene said Voldemort again. All three of the girls opposite Lily and Marlene looked shocked.

Lily wasn't afraid of his name. He held no power here, or at Hogwarts. All he had here were a few teenagers who knew a handful of hexes, and not much else. Even Rosier wasn't smart enough to actually carry out some sort of attack at Hogwarts. Not while Dumbledore was Headmaster. It was rumoured that Voldemort's fear of the older wizard was so great, he'd purposefully forbidden his Death Eaters from attacking a larger amount of students, less Dumbledore decide to battle him face-to-face.

The school was in sight, according to Marlene. She had spotted the lights of the castle from the window. Now that everybody was in their robes, they could just sit back and wait to arrive.  
Or they would have, if Peter Pettigrew hadn't thrown open the door to talk to them.

Peter was an unusal case. He was an arrogant prat, and a Marauder. But he was also much easier to talk to without wanting to cave his skull in with 'Hogwarts: A History'. One of his eyes often disturbed people, due to its odd colour. He suffered from a condition called Heterochromia, and so his left eye was mostly brown, with a dash of the same blue as his other eye, the normal one. It didn't stop him from gaining attention from the many girls in their year. Prat.

"Mary." His lilting Irish accent rolled the R. Mary's eyes glittered. They stared at each other for far too long, until the train slowed to a stop. "Would you like to come up to the castle with me?" She nodded, and silently glided alongside him and out of the train.

"Are you kidding me?" Dorcas said. She strolled outside, and Fiona followed after her.

"We'll be going then?" Marlene suggested. Lily and Marlene stepped out into the corridor, and jumped down onto the platform.

"Firs' years!" A loud voice bellowed. "Firs' years this way!" All the children streamed towards the giant man, leaving the path open for the older students to walk down. The carriages stood at the foot of the grounds overlooking the magnificent castle. The first years would arrive by boat, and risk the freezing September waters and the giant squid Alice had affectionately named Kyle.

Two carriages ahead of the girls, Mary was climbing in between Peter and another boy; one with messy black hair, and an ink stain on the back of his collar. Lily tried to burn a hole in the back of his head, but had no such luck. "Dammit. Why can't he just drown in the lake?"

"Wow, got some really twisted thoughts there, Evans." Marlene teased.

"Yeah yeah, let's just get up to the castle."

"I really hope they serve cheesecake this year."

"Me too Marlene, me too."


	2. The Start of Something

As she had every year, Lily felt small beneath the gleaming stars that adorned the faux night sky upon the ceiling of the Great Hall. Each time she walked through this hall, it was like being a first year all over again; she fully expected to be trying the Sorting Hat again.  
  
At the Gryffindor table, it was all anyone could talk about.  
  
"Here come the firsties!" Marlene hissed. A line of petite children streamed through the middle of the House tables and came to a stop in front of the woman who had lead them in. She was tall, with perfectly polished spectacles, a wide brimmed hat, and robes of navy blue. This was a woman who could silence even the rowdiest class, but who also lived and breathed bravery. Professor McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor, faced the relatively small group of students and began to speak,  
  
"When I call you name, you will come to the front of the hall and sit upon this stool," she spoke with a thick Scottish accent, and gestured to the worn three-legged stool. Sat upon the stool was a hat Lily had become familiar with over the years. It's tattered, raggedy appearance was deceiving, as she believed even Dumbledore could be triumphed by the wit of the Sorting Hat.  
  
The Hat's mouth- or rather, tear- opened wide, and a loud, croaky voice began to sing.  
  
 _"Be you short or tall,_  
  
 _Large or small,_  
  
 _I am the Hat,_  
  
 _That is here to sort you all._  
  
 _I am here to choose the table,_  
  
 _Where you will be sat,_  
  
 _For I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat!_  
  
 _If you are academically able,_  
  
 _Hardworking, wise and smart,_  
  
 _Ravenclaw is where you fit the part._  
  
 _If you are crafty and sly,_  
  
 _Always willing to reach for the sky,_  
  
 _Slytherin is where your loyalties lie._  
  
 _If you are friendly, loyal and true,_  
  
 _Forever trying to see your friends through,_  
  
 _Hufflepuff is the house for you._  
  
 _If you are brave,_  
  
 _And adventure is what you crave,_  
  
 _Then Gryffindor is the home of such a knave._  
  
 _So put me on and meet your fate,_  
  
 _Make haste; don't be late._  
  
 _Take care,_  
  
 _And choose your friends if you dare."_  
  
The whole student body burst into applause. Dorcas, now free of makeup, leaned over the table and whispered to Lily, "Didn't really have much to say this year."  
  
"Maybe it's trying not to scare them." Lily replied. With the war going on, she could imagine several of the new students were scared to be away from home. She couldn't imagine how her parents would react if she has told them just how bad the war was. She may not have been allowed to return to the school.  
  
McGonagall finished applauding the Hat and pulled out a long piece of parchment containing the names of each student. Clearing her throat, she began.  
  
"Alesi, Herbert." A small boy with brown skin and sharp eyes slowly made his way to the Hat. The entire hall waited quietly, each house hoping their would claim the first new student.  
The tear in the Hat opened, and it's final decision was made, "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
Sighs of disappointment erupted around the Gryffindor table as Herbert Alesi moved over to the house of the snakes, who cheered.  
  
"Bugger," Peter said, slapping the table. Mary turned bright red and giggled. "Ah well, there's always the next one." But the next student, Zinnia Anderson, went to Ravenclaw. And the next three (Elphias Bournemouth, Everett Boot, and Rita Connelly) were Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff.  
  
"Elkins, Mia" Lily had high hopes for the next girl. A gasp down the table, followed by excited chattering, alerted her to Rebecca Elkins, an obvious family member.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" the entirety of the Gryffindor table began to stomp and clap as their first student of the year was announced. Mia dashed over and squeezed in next to Rebecca. Both girls were beet red and squealing with joy. Lily wondered what it would be like to have family in a house, she could only imagine the pressure. Remus had told her all about Sirius' dilemma on patrol last year. The only Gryffindor in his whole family, and he'd been treat like a black sheep since.  
  
By the time Lily has started listening to the Sorting again, Adelaide Greengrass had just been sorted into Slytherin. She listened intently as the next student was called up.  
  
"Hoffenboffer, Susannah." Marlene, who had just been taking a drink of pumpkin juice, spat the sticky liquid everywhere as she burst into laughter. She quickly reigned herself in, however, when the girl was given a seat in the Lion's house. Susannah Hoffenboffer plopped herself down next to Dorcas and extended her hand to Lily expectantly. Lily returned the favour, to which Susannah shook her hand excitedly.  
  
"Suze, if you please! I noticed you had a Prefect badge on- I hope I'm a Prefect one day. Say, what year do you become a Prefect anyway?" Lily exchanged looks with Marlene. Suze was tall, with big hands, thick brown plaits, and covered in freckles. Already, several students looked irritated with her attitude.  
  
The next four students went fairly easy, with Jason Hooper and Elliot Hughes both entering Ravenclaw, whilst Jenny Lutterworth and William Macmillan earned a spot in Hufflepuff. Ruben McCormac was their newest Gryffindor, but they didn't get another until five students later, just after tiny Sophie Puckle skipped off to Hufflepuff.   
  
"Sloper, Elizabeth."  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" the call for Gryffindor came three more times, with one girl and two boys Lily didn't listen to. Sorting always took too long. She just wanted to bloody eat, and then go to bed.  
  
The final four alternated between Ravenclaw (Julia Stroulger), Hufflepuff (Eugene Woodage), Ravenclaw (Ryan Yates) and finally Slytherin (Ignatius Yaxley). Both stool and Sorting Hat were put away for the next year, and the hall once again descended into silence as the Headmaster stood.  
  
Clad in sky blue robes decorated with black stars, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, looked exactly like Muggles would expect Wizards to dress. His long white beard, often a symbol people associated with Merlin himself, was tucked into the belt neatly fastened around his waist. Lily noticed a little silver bell had been attached to the buckle, and grinned. Dumbledore was mad, absolutely crackers, but he was still a man she admired like a grandfather.  
  
Professor Dumbledore coughed, opened his arms, and spoke, "I'd very much like to welcome both our old and new students back to Hogwarts. I hope you have all enjoyed your time here so far. Now, there are a few announcements I'd like to make. The first, of course, is addressed to all those in third year or above. Hogsmeade visits will be restricted, monitored, and guarded at all times by both teachers and Prefects from now on," he waited for the loud protests to die down before continuing. "I would also like you all to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Renee Ferryhill."  
  
The new Professor, a slim woman with silver hair and beady eyes, stood up and cracked a smile at the sea of pupils.  
  
"Now, as always, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds for any students, no matter how hilarious you think a prank involving centaurs will be," at this, Dumbledore paused his speech to gaze down at four boys sat at the Gryffindor table, attempting to look innocent. Lily felt her blood boil. "I would also like to warn students away from playing by the Whomping Willow, I am afraid Mr Gudgeon's eye will never be the same." several first years glanced at each other in fear. Lily held back a laugh; Davey Gudgeon, the idiot, should have used that Ravenclaw wit of his to realise that the Willow, when hit, would hit back. It was his own fault, though almost losing an eye was a bit extreme. Dumbledore cleared his voice and continued for his final say. "And with that, I'd like to add: Bilgebub, Snorkel, Rabbit and Imp."  
  
Oh, thank Godric, the food was here. Lily had to force herself not to drool as the plates around her filled with the most delicious, heavenly dishes imaginable. Full trays of lasagne, an endless supply of sausages, and boats of gravy. She reminded herself to take it easy, even as she loaded her plate with a mountain of mashed potato.  
  
"God, Evans, where do you put it all?" Black asked her. Lily shrugged and helped herself to green beans, smothered in butter and garlic. "I don't think I've ever seen a bird eat so much."  
  
"Call me a bird, and you'll never see anything ever again." she replied coolly. Black's face cracked, and he began to howl with laughter. Lily felt her ears begin to burn as she watched Black and Pettigrew mock her warning like annoying little children. Even Marlene seemed amused, though anything her on-and-off boyfriend said was funny to her. After Marlene and Black had begun dating, Dorcas had compared their relationship to 'a moth to a candle'. When Black wanted her, Marlene was there. When he didn't want her, she left him alone, but pined after him like a lost puppy. Both denied any actual romantic feelings; it was all about snogging and the occasional rendezvous in a broom closet.   
  
Lily had half expected Potter to also be laughing at her expense. James Potter, prank extraordinaire. Every girl in the school seemed to fawn over his messy hair and hazel eyes, and the way he mucked about with that bloody snitch, even though he wasn't even a Seeker on the team. Yet he only had eyes for one girl. Lily. The only girl he had wanted since third year was also one of the only girls who couldn't stand to be near him. So Lily was more confused than ever to find that James bloody Potter, prank extraordinaire, was ignoring her. She couldn't even recall him looking her way. 

  
~

  
The feast disappeared just as Lily was finished off her lamb chops, and stood up to quickly grab Remus. The two of them had already volunteered themselves to guide the first year Gryffindors to their new living quarters.  
  
"Hey, Remus, we gotta go." he nodded, dusting crumbs from his tatty robes. Remus, no matter what time it was, always seemed to look tired. Dark circles were a permanent fixture under his eyes, and his sandy hair often fell in his face when he wrote. Most students usually focused their attention on the very feature he was most ashamed of; three long, jagged scars slashed across his face. Lily had asked Black about them once. she had gotten a gruff "dog attack" as an answer, and nothing more. Back when she had hung around with Sev-Snape, he had always remained apprehensive about the real reason Remus was mauled.   
  
The two sixth-year Prefects shepherded the first years through the trickle of students flooding out through the doors. Every now and then, Lily caught snatches of conversations.  
  
"Do you think my hair would look better like this, or this?-"  
  
"I got a Winnifred Wylump card from my Chocolate Frog yesterday-"  
  
"Come on, Sev, she doesn't want to talk to you-" Lily whipped around to spot a dark haired boy with piercing grey eyes drag his fellow Slytherin down the stairs, where a gang of other students waited, each wearing green and silver. She turned away before any of them could make eye contact and focused a false smile on the new students. There were definitely less than the previous year. Lily didn't want to think about the reason why.  
  
"Gryffindors! Over here please," Remus called out. The children crowded around the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the two Prefects. Lily counted seven students. Four girls and three boys made up the new year of Lions. Right at the very front of the group was Suze Hoffenboffer, who had attached herself to another girl Lily recalled as being Elizabeth Sloper. Both were staring in amazement at the moving staircases. Lily could remember being the same when she had first arrived. The memories of her first year, as well as meeting her friends, filled her with warmth. "Hello, new year! I'm your sixth year Prefect, Remus Lupin. This is my fellow Prefect, Lily Evans," Lily gave an awkward wave to the group of children, who smiled back hesitantly. "Now, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask-"  
  
"How'd you get them scars?" Ruben McCormac questioned. Lily shot him a sharp glare, which silenced the boy. As Remus lead the children up the stairs, he mouthed a silent 'thank you' to Lily.   
  
The students chattered constantly until they reached the entrance to the Gryffindor tower, where the Fat Lady sat waiting. Draped in robes of pale pink, she turned to Remus and asked, "Password?"  
  
"The password at this moment is 'Groovy Shades'," Remus informed the children, several students giggled at the thought of saying 'Groovy Shades' every time they wanted to get in. "the password may change in the future, however." The Fat Lady swung open and allowed the pupils inside. Once within the confines of the Gryffindor Common Room, Lily sighed with relief. Finally, she was at home.  
  
The entire Common Room was adorned with red and gold. Banners were draped across the walls, often blowing in front of several disgruntled portraits. The entire room was packed with students of course; everyone was excited to find out about what their friends had been up to over the holidays. The war was also a conversation on everyone's lips.  
  
Lily found Mary and Dorcas trading Chocolate Frog Cars in the far corner. Both girls had claimed the same armchair and were squished together. Mary had already changed into pajamas.  
  
"Hullo Lily."  
  
"Hey, Mary." Lily perched on the armchair and examined the cards Mary held. There was nothing Lily didn't already have.  
  
"Don't you have Prefect duty, Miss Evans?" Dorcas asked, taking on a mocking tone. Lily rolled her eyes, but replied,  
  
"The seventh years have taken over, thank Merlin, it's a bore." a fifth year student moved from the other armchair, giving Lily full access. She darted over and leaned back, relishing the comfort of being right next to the fireplace. The fire crackling and hissing was one of Lily's favourite things to hear, especially on nights where she was up till three in the morning, usually studying for Transfiguration or Ancient Runes.  
  
The overwhelming feeling of tiredness began to wash over her, and her eyelids suddenly became heavy. Determined to keep herself awake, Lily barely even noticed that the Common Room was emptying of students.   
  
Her eyes snapped open almost hours later, when the scratching of a quill against parchment alerted her to the presence of a lone student. The entire Common Room was empty, except for her and-  
  
And James bloody Potter. Of course. He'd woken her up writing as loudly as possible. Had he been down here this whole time? Oh Merlin, what if he'd pranked her whilst she was asleep. She checked her clothes and hair just in case, but found nothing. No, instead, he was staring at her. That, she was used to.  
  
"Have something to say, Potter?" she snapped at him. Potter didn't reply. Instead, he stood up, gathered his things, and headed for the Boys Dorm. Before climbing the stairs, he stopped and turned to face her. Mischievous hazel eyes met puzzled green ones and for a moment Lily's heart stopped.  
  
"Goodnight, Evans." he said softly. And then he disappeared up the staircase.  
  
Lily sat rooted to the armchair. What the bloody hell had just happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all,  
> I'm going to attempt to post every Monday and Thursday, but if I feel like I'm falling behind a little because of other work, I'll probably just stick to Thursdays.  
> Don't forget to leave Kudos and comments.


	3. Framed

McGonagall began her timetable duties early, and took them just as seriously this year as she had the last. Lily was happy to see that Potions was first for sixth years who had elected to continue the class. Both Dorcas and Mary had dropped it, claiming it would clash with their other classes. After watching Dorcas make potions, Lily was more than willing for her to be as far away from the dungeons as possible.  
  
She headed down to the dungeons as soon as breakfast was finished, with Marlene bouncing at her heels. Lily had taken the class for many reasons. She loved potions, she wanted a Potions Master License, and it could improve her chances of becoming a Medi-Witch. Marlene, on the other hand, had taken the class to stay close to Sirius Black, the Scion of the Most Annoying and Evil House of Black, and Marlene's crazy, arrogant boyfriend. For now. The two broke up and got back together almost every other month.  
  
Unsurprisingly, people were already inside the classroom when she arrived. Professor Horace Slughorn stood at the front, fussing with the buttons on his jacket. Professor Slughorn was a stout little man with pearly teeth and an eye for successful witches and wizards. After just a month in his class, Lily had been invited to join what was known as the Professor's 'Slug Club', a gathering of pupils the Professor saw potential in. Doing this over the years had gained Slughorn invites to the biggest events, where he met with celebrities and politicians alike. Knowing Professor Slughorn could get people places, and places was exactly where Lily wanted to be.  
  
Unfortunately for the two girls, Slughorn has a new plan for the sixth years. As they began to sit down in their usual seats, Slughorn waved them back up, and shooed every member of the class to the back of the room. Lily eyed up the other students brave enough to take Potions. Four Gryffindors, eight Slytherins, six Ravenclaws and just two Hufflepuffs had selected Potions as a NEWT class. Lily hoped to surpass them all, though having someone like Severus Snape in the class would make that tricky.  
  
She and Severus may have worked together once. Maybe they could have even done their NEWT project together, like they'd always planned to. But that had been ruined last year, when Severus had uttered that disgusting word that made his feelings about the purity of her blood clear.   
  
The word 'Mudblood'. Even using it in her thoughts made Lily shiver. Such a horrid term, used by the person she'd called her best friend. Well, she didn't need that sort of person around. She'd just have to do better than Snape did.  
  
"I thought I'd try a different approach to the classroom relationships today," Slughorn called. "I'd like you all to find someone you'd never usually partner with. Whichever duo makes the potion best will receive a vial of Felix Felicis and twenty-five points for their respective houses." he clapped his hands to signal for the class to get on with it, and retreated to his desk for a Cauldron Cake, Lily knew he kept a stash in the upper left drawer.  
  
Potter appeared from nowhere, and leaned in before she could scurry to another person to work with. "You mind if we work together?" he asked her quietly. His gentle grip on her elbow disappeared. She considered saying no, but when she saw the actual worry reflecting from his glass, her gaze softened. Bloody Potter and his puppy eyes.  
  
"Fine. Just- do as I say, okay?" he agreed and moved in to the space next to her. A quick spell and the fire beneath the cauldron was lit. Both Lily and Potter looked up to the board where the instructions for the Blood Thinning Solution had been scrawled. "You cut up the salamander eyes, I'll crush the nettles, got it?"  
  
"Yeah, I can do that." he replied. As she crushed the nettles with her mortar and pestle, Lily felt eyes burning into the back of her head, and knew Snape was at the cauldron behind her. All of a sudden, the little spark of stubbornness inside her erupted into a fire. Lily, in what was possibly the most petty move she'd ever made, rested her hand on Potter's arm and looked at his work with the salamander eyes.  
  
' _Take that, Snape_ ' she thought with a sardonic smile. Potter, who had previously been slicing the eyes with great precision, was now frozen, and looked at her hand on his arm with wide eyes. Lily moved away and went back to crushing her nettles like nothing had happened. Nothing had happened. Not really.  
  
An argument started on the other side of the class, and Lily craned her neck around Potter when she heard Marlene curse at someone. Poor Marlene had been partnered with Victor Avery, a slimy, cowardly Slytherin, and also the son of a known Death Eater. If she could, Lily would put galleons on a bet that Avery was a Death Eater too. His whole gang, if wearing a Dark Mark inside Hogwarts was possible.  
  
"I think I know what I'm doing McKinnon!" Avery snarled at the curly blonde. Potter gave a soft chuckle.  
  
"What's funny?" Lily demanded to know. Potter faced her, eyes sparkling.  
  
"He has some damn guts, don't you think? Marlene could crush him." Lily couldn't help but agree with Potter on this one. While Avery was smart, he was also short, skinny, and too puny to even carry a Bowtruckle. Marlene stood at six foot exactly, and towered over Avery. Lily had also seen her punch Black hard enough to knock him over.  
  
"Ms McKinnon, Mr Avery?" Slughorn interceded. Within minutes, the two had been separated the given new partners. Avery was swapped with Evan Rosier, someone Marlene may actually be able to tolerate. Despite being a pureblood Slytherin, Lily had never had a problem with Rosier. He was the only Slytherin in Ancient Runes, and the two were made to sit together quite often. Marlene still looked miserable either way.  
  
As Avery moved to work with Xenophilius, Lily swore he had winked at Esther Nott, another Slytherin. Trying to concentrate on her own potion, she allowed Potter to stir the solution clockwise while she added the crushed nettles in slowly. A feeling of dread crept over her like icy cold water.  
  
BOOM!  
  
Several students screamed. Potter, with the reflexes of both a Quidditch star and an Auror's son, pulled Lily down to the ground, shielding her from splashes of liquid raining down around them. Slughorn was shouting for everyone to calm down. Lily peered beneath Potter's arm, and spotted a pair of legs sneak around to Slughorn's private ingredients cabinet. Whoever it was bent down, opened the doors, and grabbed several jars before retreating.  
  
"Geroff, Potter!" she snapped, pushing him away from her. He stood up and raised his hands in surrender as she swept past him to find Marlene. The bubbly blonde was nowhere to be seen. Lily surmised that she had likely fled the classroom like many of the students. On the ground, being tended to by Slughorn, was Avery. His fellow Slytherins had crowded around him and were firing off questions.  
  
"Avery would never make a mistake-"  
  
"How the hell did he manage to pull this off-"  
  
"I saw her cast a spell on his cauldron, I saw it!" Nott shrieked. She spotted Lily standing there and snapped, "Piss off, Mudblood! Your mate's really gone and pulled a bugger this time!"  
  
"Miss Nott, now really!" Slughorn exclaimed, looking quite aghast. Lily glared at Nott, but stalked outside the classroom. She needed to find Marlene. Nott's taunt had been clearly directed at Lily's best mate, even if she hadn't mentioned her by name. It wasn't like she would be talking about Potter or Black. Everyone in Hogwarts, from the Headmaster to the house elves in the kitchens, knew just how much Lily Marie Evans hated the Marauders.   
  
But if Nott was blaming Marlene for Avery's injury, then what the bloody hell had happened?

  
~

  
The potions pupils were gathered just above the entrance to the dungeons, all of them were whispering, though none of them seemed to perturbed about Avery's injuries. It made sense; Avery was known for bullying muggleborns.   
  
Lily never got the chance to reach Marlene. Slughorn's arrival kept everyone from moving as he barked, "Follow me, Ms McKinnon!" and went back the way he came. Fear flickered across Marlene's face. She paled considerably before squaring her shoulders and marching back down to the dungeons to face whatever Slughorn had in mind. Judging from Nott's declaration, Lily couldn't see it going well.  
  
"Right," Amos Diggory, the sixth year Hufflepuff Prefect, said. "I don't know about you lot, but I need some food, and lunch will be starting soon. Anyone coming with me?" a bunch of students nodded their agreement, and the majority of the class wandered up the stairs. Black paused at the bottom, looking towards his best mate, who was still buzzing around Lily like a gnat.  
  
"You coming, Prongs?" Ugh, what a moronic nickname. Lily was awfully glad she didn't have to put up with something as stupid as that.  
  
"Be right there, Pads." Potter called. Black shrugged nonchalantly, pulling out the bobble from his long hair. His curly hair tumbled down to his shoulders, and bounced as he went upstairs. Potter adjusted his glasses and smiled at Lily, one eyebrow raised. She was surprised he hadn't given her the Look. It was his usual expression when he gazed at her. "You okay Evans?"  
  
"Not really, Potter. My best mate just got dragged off because of something I know she didn't do." she felt a tightness in her chest, and pushed it down as quickly as she could. Lily would NOT cry, not in front of James effing Potter.   
  
"Lily?" a voice whispered from behind her. She turned around and saw one of the girls from Potions. This girl was shorter, with an upturned nose, dark eyes, and a plump lower lip that was peeling from the amount of time she chewed it. Lily vaguely recognised her from Prefect rounds and several of her other classes. It was only by looking at the yellow and black tie around her neck that she remembered the girl's name. Merlin, how could she have forgotten it?  
  
"Amelia!" Potter breathed. Amelia Bones smiled at him, and Lily frowned. Since when had Amelia Bones and James Potter been friends? Hold on, since when had Lily cared that Potter and Amelia were friends? It didn't affect her whatsoever.  
  
"Nice to see you again, James. Did you enjoy the Minister's Gala during the summer?" Amelia questioned. Ah, yes, now it made more sense. Potter and Amelia were both stuck in the same boat. Their parents were big players in the Ministry, especially in the Wizengamot. Dorcas, who liked to read the morning paper aloud, had mentioned that Potter's dad was trying to get a department opened, one that would allow the Ministry to develop the education system. Lily wasn't too sure Professor Dumbledore would enjoy having government officials involved in Hogwarts. The thought of enraging a man like Albus Dumbledore was enough to send shivers down anybody's spines.  
  
"Not particularly, old Minchum keeps trying to pressure Dad into coming off the Auror force and taking a role in his office." Potter replied casually. Lily's nose twitched in frustration as Potter's tousled his hair in that oh-so arrogant way. On her top twenty list of things she hated about Potter, the hair trick was number one. God, he was infuriating without trying.  
  
"I can imagine. Your Dad is a heavy political piece," Amelia said. Without another word to Potter, she had turned her attention to Lily again. "I just wanted to say that I know Marlene didn't do anything. Slughorn didn't see them, but I did."  
  
"See who?" Lily pressed, desperate for an answer that could prove Marlene innocent.  
  
"Avery and Nott. Nott put a spell on Avery's cauldron-"  
  
"And they used the distraction to sneak into Slughorn's cupboard!" Lily finished Amelia's sentence for her. Potter, who had been quietly skulking in the background, chose that moment to butt in.  
  
"When was that?" he exclaimed.  
  
"When you made me lie on the bloody ground to avoid getting hit by anything. I could have seen who it was if your bloody arm wasn't in the way!" she snapped at him. Potter had the good sense to look slightly embarrassed.  
  
"My bet is on the group Avery and Nott hang about with," Amelia suggested, glancing between Potter and Lily with a knowing smile. "Rosier, Mulciber, Jugson-"  
  
"Snape." added Potter, who had acted as if the very name was poisonous. Last year, Lily might have defended Severus. After what Marlene had said on the train, however, Lily had reason to suspect Severus Snape had indeed joined Lord Voldemort's ranks. That hurt more than any words could. Severus had always been rather cold about the deaths of other Muggleborns. She remembered the conversation- or argument, rather- they had about it:  
  
 _ **"I don't see your issue, Lily." He had snapped, beginning to look somewhat irritated. She'd felt that anger eat away at the need to back down that she felt whenever she argued with Severus.**_  
  
 _ **"It's not right! What if it was me, then? What if they attacked my family?" Lily remembered him backpedalling, trying to get himself out of the corner she had trapped him in.**_  
  
 _ **"It's not the same, you're different, special." He had quickly replied. She'd dropped the conversation, but the words stuck like to the roof of her tongue. What made her different or special? Nothing, except that she was his friend, and those other Muggleborns were not.**_  
  
"Then I need to do something," Lily told Amelia and Potter. The two stared at her like she had grown a second head. "Marlene could get in serious trouble for this, and they're stealing from Slughorn."  
  
"You can't do it all by yourself, Evans." Potter told her, plucking his glasses from his face to wipe them clean on his jumper.  
  
"No. I know what you want, and there is no bloody way I am ever letting you help me." she replied venomously. Amelia intercepted before Potter could try to defend himself.  
  
"I know you don't get along, but-" Lily scoffed at the suggestion. Get along? She despised everything Potter had stood for in the past few years. Every kid he'd hexed, she had comforted. Lily could recall almost every time Potter had asked her on a date. "-but James' parents are Aurors. If anyone can help, it's him."  
  
"Thank you, Amelia." said Potter. He was grinning from ear to ear, which only served to infuriate Lily more. Amelia, however, had a point. Potter's hatred for Death Eaters was a fact, and it could only benefit Lily's best friend.  
  
"Fine," she snapped at him. "but only because Marlene is in trouble."  
  
"Then, Ms Evans, we have a deal." Potter stuck out his hand, and Lily took it. Compared to her own softer, smoother hands, Potter's was covered in scratches, ink blots and callouses from the handle of his broom. It wasn't a completely unpleasant feeling.  
  
"A deal it is, Potter."


	4. Et Missionis

_Tick, tock, tick, tock._   
  
_The clock was three minutes out of time. It sat there, taunting him, a lying face built to tell the truth. The green light flickering from the windows illuminated the room around him as he watched time go by, just three minutes too late._   
  
_"Dozing off again, Rosier?" Severus Snape, a dull, pretentious fellow sixth-year asked him. Evan lazily reclined in the armchair and rewarded Snape's curiosity with a lopsided smile. Severus' face didn't budge, and it remained as icy as ever. Sighing, Evan Rosier, the Scion of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Rosier, found himself explaining his frustrations to the greasy half-blood sat next to him._   
  
_"The clock is wrong." he answered. The others, upon hearing him speak, moved in like predatory birds. Perhaps they had assumed he and Severus were discussing the plan._   
  
_"By a few minutes." Snape retorted. His face twisted as Esther Nott, a thin girl with eyes far too big for her face, perched herself upon Evan's lap. Evan also found his reluctantly betrothed to be disgusting, but letting her know it was a bad idea. Neither Evan nor Esther had a choice in their future anymore._   
  
_The other two, Victor Avery and Regulus Black, had taken up spaces next to Severus. With a quick flick of his wand and a mumbled spell of his own creation, Snape had stopped anyone else from hearing whatever was said between the five teenagers. Evan watched as Severus placed his wand on the arm of the leather sofa, but never removed his hand. It was now six years they had been staying in the same dormitory, but Severus Snape had never lowered his guard around Evan like he had with Avery or Mulciber. It left Evan to wonder what kind of mistrust Snape held in him._   
  
_"So, now that we have the potion ingredients, when do we begin preparing it?" Regulus asked. Evan forced himself to contain an audible sigh when he spotted the excited gleam in the boy's eyes. In Evan's mind, Regulus Black was far too young to be involved in the plan, much less to be preparing to join the Death Eater's ranks. Evan had been inducted last year, and even now still traced the Dark Mark marring his arm with a hint of regret. Regulus was fourteen. He should have been out spending time with his friends, not catering to the whims of his mother and the cousin he shared with Evan, though from two different sides of their respective families._   
  
_"Not right now," Evan replied to Regulus. He made an effort to make Esther as uncomfortable as possible on his knee. It worked; she slid into the other armchair with a pout. "I'm waiting on Antonin to send me a message first, just to make sure."_   
  
_"Wait, Antonin- as in Antonin Dolohov?" Esther added sharply. "Cor, Rosier, you kept that quiet." In truth, he had. Antonin was Evan's friend, Evan's only, and he was determined to keep him that way. It had been Dolohov who had volunteered Evan for the plan, telling the Dark Lord himself that Evan was a worthy Death Eater who deserved a place within His circle. His chest swelled with pride as the memory repeated itself in his head. The others were just pawns, but he had been selected to lead those pawns. In the Dark Lord's eyes, Evan was important._   
  
_"Dolohov will be delivering the potion to the Dark Lord if and when we succeed." Evan informed the others. Avery sneered at the thought of someone else possibly gaining the glory, but continued to be silent. He and Mulciber had never quite maintained the same reputation amongst their fellow snakes as Evan, Esther or Regulus, all of whom were connected to so many families. Snape, on the other hand, was a social outcast. A half-blood, considered 'the worst sort' by a lot of Purebloods. Snape's father was a filthy Muggle, whether or not he hated the man was irrelevant. That blood still left a stain. Evan did not hate the boy- on the contrary, he didn't hate anyone with magical blood. Even Muggleborns were members of the community. It was a view many friends of his thought insane._   
  
_"And if we don't?" Regulus asked worriedly. The child had yet to gain his mark. This mission would be his test._   
  
_"Then the Dark Lord will likely torture us or perhaps kill one of us." Avery answered him. Snape had gone silent, but his eyes widened at the prospect of having the Cruciatus Curse placed upon him. Antonin had described the feeling of the curse to Evan once. It was like being burned alive and drowned in ice cold water all at once. The thought made him shudder. No, they could not fail. Failing the Dark Lord meant failing Antonin. It meant failing his father, who had taken Evan to the Dark Lord, and told his son exactly what would happen if he failed._   
  
_The clock struck a false twelve and chimed twice. Yawning, Regulus stood and marched himself to the dorms. Avery and Snape retired similarly, removing the charm around the group as they went._   
  
_Evan found himself pinned to his chair by Esther's lithe form. Her desire to appease her family by forcing a romantic relationship with him was laughable and horribly pathetic. She seemed to believe she had freedom. More pretending. Together, their families would tell them how to behave, when to have children, and what to name them. Evan hated every inch of it._   
  
_"Going to bed?" Esther purred, stroking his arm. If she moved just a little further up, she would feel the squirming heat of the Dark Mark burnt into his skin. Evan glared at the poor girl, but she seemed to notice nothing. "I can join you, if you like."_   
  
_"I'm tired, Essie, and I don't really feel up to it." he lied. Esther was key to the plan, and if he pushed her away, everything could unravel. The Dark Lord would not appreciate his loyal followers failing._   
  
_"Oh." she tried to sound nonchalant, but Evan could see the hurt in her eyes. He felt bad about it, but Esther was not the person he could see himself with. She never could be._   
  
_Wordlessly, his betrothed slid from his lap and headed towards the Girls Dorms, glancing back to look at Evan longingly. Their marriage would not be the fairytale wedding she had dreamed of as a child, back when they had all been so young. She had also been less violent, much more like her twin brother, Maverick. Evan could recall seeing her with Pureblood girls like Greengrass and McKinnon._   
  
_Marlene McKinnon. Guilt stabbed at Evan's chest as he processed just how much trouble she was in. A quick spell, created by Snape, had traced the spell used on Avery's cauldron to McKinnon's wand. Dumbledore would be having more than a few choice words with her. Marlene would be paying for what Esther had done, and what Evan had allowed them to do._   
  
_As he retreated to the dormitory, he glanced up towards the deceitful clock hanging from the wall. It informed him it was twenty-to-one._   
  
_A liar. Just like all those he called friends. Just like Evan._


	5. The Snake Den

The gossip about the accident in the potions lab spread like wildfire. By dinnertime, after another two gruelling lessons, everyone knew that Victor Avery had been rushed to the Hospital Wing and healed from wounds caused by an exploded cauldron. They also knew that the spell placed upon the cauldron had been traced to the wand of one Marlene Wysteria McKinnon of Gryffindor.  
  
Lily stabbed at her potatoes, occasionally pausing to glare at gaggles of students who were whispering around her. Everyone knew she was Marlene's best friend. It was alarmingly obvious that Lily herself had somehow been wrapped up in the gossip mill.  
  
"Ignore them." Potter muttered in her ear. The git had stolen the seat next to her in Marlene's absence.  
  
"Didn't ask for your opinion, but thanks." she replied through a mouthful of parsnips. Even her favourite foods couldn't bring her mood up. How dare she enjoy dinner when Marlene was serving a whole three months detention with Slughorn? Lily was the worst friend ever.  
  
"Listen, Amelia says that old Sluggy will be down in the dungeons alone for some time, I was thinking that maybe we get down there and snoop around, huh?" Potter was awfully proud of himself for his plan.  
  
Lily swallowed more parsnips before replying, "And how exactly are we going to snoop around if the Professor is there?"  
  
"Well, see, I thought that maybe you could distract him. Everyone knows you and Snivellus are his favourite students." Lily let his insult towards Snape pass by her. At this moment, Severus could be helping his friends pin the incident on Marlene.  
  
"How are you going to sneak past Slughorn, Potter?" Potter said nothing, though Lily suspected it had something to do with the same way he escaped Prefects every year. This time, whatever he was doing might actually be helpful. "You know what- nevermind. Just- meet me outside Slughorn's office in ten minutes, okay?"  
  
"You got it." he confirmed. Potter leapt from the table and jogged out of the hall, and was subsequently replaced by Benjamin Fenwick.  
  
Benjy was, for a lack of a more platonic term word, cute. He had a button nose, warm brown eyes, and freckles that danced across his nose. He was shorter than the other four Gryffindors he shared a dorm with, and the only sixth year boy who wasn't a Marauder. "Hullo Benjy."  
  
"Hey, Lily," he leaned in to give her a sideways hug, and Lily blushed at the warmth radiating from him. "Was that James Potter I saw sitting here?"  
  
"It was, unfortunately. You shouldn't catch anything, though." He laughed at her joke, thank Merlin. Lily didn't quite know the extent of his friendship with Potter, they did share a room, after all. How he put up with the lot of them Lily didn't understand. He was by far the nicest boy in her house year, though Remus was always a good conversationalist too.  
  
"Do anything interesting over the holidays?" he asked casually. Lily's heart stopped for a minute as she considered the implications behind the question. Living with Marlene for five years had taught her all she needed to know about flirting. Benjy was trying to take an interest in her life, that was Stage One. Well, she didn't think there were actually stages, but that hardly mattered.  
  
"Nothing too much, just spent some time with Marlene, y'know. Me and my sister fought a bit." she admitted. Petunia always seemed to find a way to hate Lily more every time she came back from Hogwarts. Usually it was little things that bothered her. Lily's wand left on the desk, or her books had spilled out from under her bed. Since getting that walrus of a boyfriend, she'd gotten worse, and spent her days whispering to Vernon behind Lily's back.  
  
"Cool, cool. Listen, I've been putting off Hogsmeade visits- what with the war and NEWTS and all, but I'm going in after Christmas for the sales. I was wondering if you wanted to join me?" Lily's brain fuzzed and went blank. A date. Her first date, like, ever. She'd always been terrified of dating whilst Potter was around. One guy had asked her in third year, and he'd ended up being covered in boils. After that, the guys at Hogwarts had gotten the message: Lily Evans was unavailable.  
  
"Quite early to be planning Christmas dates, isn't it?" Lily teased, voice wobbling. Benjy's smile slipped a little. "Oh, I'd love to go, Benjy! I just didn't expect it, that's all."  
  
"Oh, great! I was thinking the first Hogsmeade visit after Christmas?" he asked her hesitantly. Lily nodded, glancing towards the entrance to the Great Hall. Potter would be expecting her in a handful of minutes, but getting away from Benjy would be a problem. The boy had literally just asked her on a date, and now she was planning on ditching him to play detective. Lily really was the worst person ever.  
  
"Listen, Benjy, I have to go," he threw her a confused look that Lily could wholly understand; she had barely touched her food yet. "I've got a meeting with Slughorn." she explained. Benjy's eyes flickered down to the seat he was inhabiting and Lily already knew what he thought. It appeared even the kindest boy in Gryffindor had caught the rumours about Marlene. Standing up suddenly, Lily swept her hair behind her ears (a habit she had picked up early in her third year, after a particularly gruelling Potions class) and fled the Great Hall, leaving Benjy both confused, and mildly suspicious.  
  
A flight of stairs and several angry portraits later, Lily found Potter hovering by the door to Slughorn's favourite laboratory. She found it odd to see him so quiet. His glasses were slipping to the edge of his nose. His tongue stuck out a tiny bit, peeking out between his lips as he concentrated on looking through the keyhole into the office. Lily cleared her throat, if only to alert him to her presence, and Potter jumped up into the air like he was been cursed. His hiss of fright echoed through the stone walls of the dungeons, and continued long after he had finished glaring at the red-headed culprit. Lily smirked, but decided not to gloat. Gloating was a Potter thing, and so completely off limits to herself.  
  
"Merlin, Evans!" he snapped.   
  
"Shhh!" she shoved him ever so slightly, causing Potter to feign injury and fall back. It had never been so obvious that he played Quidditch. Lily rolled her eyes in annoyance before regaining her composure and, after plastering a smile on her face, entering the room.  
  
Slughorn had a very familiar reaction to Lily as Potter. He threw his hand to his chest and heaved, chuckling halfheartedly. "Oh, Lily! I didn't hear you outside." she watched as he waddled around to his desk retrieve a delicious cauldron cake. He offered one to Lily, who refused it. She'd already stress-eaten half a plate of treacle tart, thank you very much. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw a flash of silver edge around the dungeon. Shaking her head, Lily turned back to the portly and flushing Professor.  
  
Horace Slughorn was the Head of Slytherin house, and fairly ambitious. Unlike many Slytherins, however, Professor Slughorn's ambition lay in what he could gain from famous friends. Referred to as 'The Collector' by many a student, Slughorn's train 'interviews' usually only had one aim: to weed out the successful from the average. A portly, balding man, he commonly sported a velvet smoking jacket, complete with a matching lounging cap adorned with little snakes.  
  
Slughorn's 'Slug Club' often met on Wednesday or Friday nights, and invites were select. Lily, a muggleborn with few ties to big family names, often felt rather uncomfortable at the Professor's get-togethers. It was filled with snobs and pureblood elitists. Even Severus, who had been her friend for years, had a tendency to drift off and socialise with his housemates, all of whom would rather kill Lily than befriend her.  
  
"You came to see me for a reason, yes?" he asked her, wiping crumbs from the lapel of his jacket. Lily forced a shameful smile onto her face. Professor Slughorn was her favourite teacher- aside from McGonagall of course- and lying to him physically pained her. She was a Prefect for Merlin's sake, she shouldn't be encouraging boys like Potter in rule-breaking and mischief.   
  
"I, yeah- I was wondering when the next Slug Club meeting would be?" Slughorn's smile broadened. Despite his age, the older man certainly loved to host parties. Lily believed it made him feel special, to have all these students under his influence. He'd invited Marlene's father to the Slug Club when he had attended Hogwarts, and now Nathaniel McKinnon was the advisor to the Minister. Under Slughorn's watch, Lily knew she could go far.  
  
"The next meeting? Oh ho ho, you're awfully early m'dear!" he bellowed, patting his belly. Lily joined in with a nervous giggle, wondering when, and how, Potter was going to do his part. "Though I'd imagine you're also concerned about Miss McKinnon?"  
  
For all his cheery and friendly demeanour, Lily could never forget that under that jolly exterior lay a cunning Slytherin. Professor Slughorn had seen right through her.   
  
"That too," Lily admitted. A scorching heat crept under from under her collar. "she's my best friend, I can't imagine her ever hurting a student on purpose."  
  
"Oh, I can't imagine she meant to seriously injure! But maybe that Gryffindor fire you're all so well known for got the better of her, eh? I remember her father being the same way," It was no use. The spell had been traced to Marlene's wand, which was as good as a confession. Lily decided not to press the issue any further for fear of rousing suspicion. "now all that kerfuffle is sorted, I have more pressing issue- someone has been raiding my personal storage." Lily hit the goldmine. She felt a balloon of pride swelling in her chest. Who needed James Potter anyway?  
  
"Someone raided your cupboard, Professor?" she tried to sound shocked. "did they take anything important?"  
  
"A little here and there. Some mistletoe berries, a Jobber-knoll feather, a few spines from the Lionfish." Lily recognised them all. She knew that there was a potion she'd studied that contained them, she knew it. The name was on the tip of her tongue.  
  
"I'll use my Prefect badge and keep an eye out, Professor." she told him, and genuinely meant it. As she turned to leave, Slughorn spoke.  
  
"Aha! And bloodroot, yes, there was some bloodroot missing," he tutted, reaching for another Cauldron Cake. "shame, it's so very valuable- only found in North America, actually."  
  
Lily wasn't listening anymore. Her blood ran cold as the ingredients all fused together in her head, mentally creating the deadly potion she knew as Bloodroot Poison. Designed to mimic a brain haemorrhage, the potion was nasty, gory, and completely illegal to brew. If the Slytherins were making it, then somebody had been targeted for death.

  
~

  
She scurried from the room and searched up and down the dungeon corridor for any sign of Potter. Slowly, she grew more and more irritated as she realised he had abandoned her. So much for wanting to get to the bottom of-  
  
Footsteps echoed through the damp walls of the dungeon. Lily tried to find a place to hide, and felt two hands yank her back against the wall. A silvery cloth fell over her body; she turned to find Potter stood behind her. "You!"  
  
"Shh, keep your voice down." he whispered. Lily held her breath to trap the stream of insults she had planned for Potter. Glancing at the silver cloak again, she quickly realised that it was not, in fact, silver. It was completely transparent. An invisibility cloak! Where had Potter managed to find one of those?  
  
A group of students in robes lined green and silver strode by. Potter motioned for her to move, and they followed behind them at a slow pace. From the back of their heads, Lily could only recognise Esther Nott and Snape. Her stomach began to curdle with dread.  
  
The five Slytherins disappeared behind a tapestry that Potter was quick to slip under, dragging Lily with him. The two stood awkwardly close together in the corner as Rosier rounded on Avery with a malevolent glint in his eye.  
  
"The entire school is talking about McKinnon, which you two-" he jabbed his finger at Nott and Avery. "-were supposed to keep as quiet as possible."  
  
"It's not our fault some Ravenclaw tart couldn't keep her mouth shut! Her boyfriend was in the Potions class." Nott snapped back. Although physically beautiful, with wide eyes framed by long lashes, Nott's looks were marred by a permanent sneer and a power-hungry attitude. Even Rosier, her betrothed, found her to be a deplorable human being. Her own twin brother actively avoided her.  
  
"It doesn't matter anymore." Severus added sharply, silencing all three with a curt look. Lily couldn't help but smile. It was an expression he'd used on Petunia when they were children.  
  
"Right, right. I have more important matters to deal with later, Dolohov and I will meet in Hogsmeade, we'll discuss your incompetence then," Avery's face flushed a deep shade of red. Antonin Dolohov, from the viewpoint of most people, was not a man people made angry. His murderous nature had racked up a high kill count in the Daily Prophet, including muggles, muggleborns, magical creatures, and even a handful of purebloods who refused to join Voldemort. The only people with a higher kill count, as far as Lily was aware, was the LeStrange family and Lord Voldemort himself.  
  
"We have the ingredients though, so we're almost ready?" For all she hated Sirius Black, Lily couldn't help but pity him as she watched his little brother debate with Death Eaters so enthusiastically. Regulus was the spitting image of his brother, albeit with a larger jaw. With his sleeves rolled up the way they were, Both Lily and Potter could see he bore no Dark Mark. He wasn't a Death Eater. Yet.  
  
"Almost. I wager the potion could be finished just after Christmas if Severus here gives it his all." Rosier clapped Snape on the back, but his hand was clawed and tensing. It wasn't friendly, it was a warning. A 'do it right or start running' type of threat most people would cower under. Severus just glared at Rosier.  
  
"We should go." Potter whispered. His breath tickled Lily's ear as he shifted to avoid leaning against her body. Lily found that she was completely unable to speak. It was like her tongue had been hexed to the roof of her mouth. Severus was a Death Eater. The boy she grown up with, her Sev, was a member of Voldemort's posse.  
  
She stuck close to Potter as they crept back through the dungeons and upstairs, finding a discreet place to remove the cloak. Her plans to demand an explanation about his cloak were lost in the static of her brain. She felt numb, cold. Severus had always had a dark side, she had known it since they'd first met. To see that dark side consume him was eating her up.  
  
Potter had the decency to look sympathetic. "Look, Evans, if you can't handle it-"  
  
"I'm not some fragile broad you usually play with, Potter," she snapped back without thinking. Potter flinched, his mask of confidence cracked and betrayed the vulnerability hiding behind it. He was genuinely hurt, and for the first time in her life, Lily felt guilty about it. She'd have to mark that one down as a miracle. "Sorry."  
  
"What? Oh- nah, I'm used to it." his hand crept into his hair again as he smirked. "Knew you had it in you, Lily-flower."  
"Don't." she warned him. Potter feigned a look of innocence.  
  
"Don't what?" he teased.   
  
"You know what! You act like you're some big guy who isn't scared of anything and none of it's true! I know about your parents, Potter. You're just as scared about the Death Eaters as I am." It was no big reveal that she knew about James Potter's parents. Everyone in Wizarding Britain knew- or knew about- Charlus and Dorea Potter. Famous Aurors, the duo had taken down a dozen Death Eaters. Their physical power, combined with their familial ties to houses Potter and Black, made them strong adversaries in the field and in the Wizengamot. Charlus' brother Fleamont had also made quite the name for himself as a Potions master. Comparing the two, Lily could see which one Potter took after.  
  
He stood frozen to the spot, his face was stony and emotionless. Clearly, Lily had managed to strike a nerve. And then, just as she thought he'd finally snapped, his face changed in a single fluid motion. Potter smirked for what must've been the umpteenth time and checked his watch.  
  
"Ah, Amelia should be meeting us here soon." was all he said.   
  
Amelia did not take long to meet them. She tossed her thick brown plait away from her face and eyed the two of them. Lily could imagine they were a right state; her face felt hot and Potter's eyes were glassy. Thank Merlin it was only Amelia.  
  
"Well?" she questioned. Potter started to talk, but closed his mouth and stared at Lily, waiting for her to start.  
  
"All of the ingredients taken from Slughorn are part of a potion known as Bloodroot Poison," Amelia's face paled. "We tailed a few Slytherins-"  
  
"Which ones?" Amelia interrupted.  
  
"Avery, Nott- the girl, Snape..." Lily's voice wobbled. Merlin, it was one thing to see him, it was another to admit that Severus was a Death Eater.  
  
Potter continued the rest. "Rosier and Sirius' little brother were there too."   
  
Amelia nodded like she knew it was them the whole time. "I figured Rosier might be involved. My mum saw his dad introducing him to Lucius Malfoy and Antonin Dolohov at a party this summer. Lots of people know Dolohov is a Death Eater, and Malfoy, though we can't prove Lucius is one. So, we know what they're making, what do we do now?"  
  
"Go to Dumbledore." Lily said. At the same time, Potter had offered another option,  
  
"We find out why they want Bloodroot poison."  
  
"What? No, we can take this to Dumbledore and let him do the rest." Lily argued. Amelia and Potter stared at each other, and Lily got the feeling that they both knew something she didn't. "Is that an issue or something?"  
  
"Lily, I agree with James," Amelia said, abd quickly added, "It's just that both my mum and James' parents don't trust him!"  
  
"How? It's Dumbledore, he's the only person Voldemort is afraid of!" As much as she tried to persuade them, both Potter and Amelia didn't budge, nor would they reveal their reasons for it. "Fine, what do you both suggest?"  
  
"Let me get Padfoot and the others." Potter suggested. Lily watched him bob side to side until she realised she was shaking her head.  
  
"I am not getting involved with Marauder shenanigans. I am a Prefect, it would look bad." she hissed at him. She couldn't stand the Marauders, except maybe Remus. They were stupid, big-headed prats and Lily would rather fight the giant squid wandless than accept their help.  
  
"Comon Evans! Remus and Amelia are both Prefects. You're meant to be the brains of our operation." Potter whined, inciting a small smirk on Lily's face. She was probably going to regret it, but...  
  
"Alright Potter, we'll go get your mates."


	6. Break Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for such a late entry, but Christmas is a busy time for me.
> 
> I'll resume normal posting dates next Monday. For now, have a chapter on me.

November came quicker than anyone realised, and by the time the twelfth had passed, nobody had anything else to add on the problem with the Slytherins and their poisonous concoction. Lily should have known that Severus and his friends would be discreet; cunning and discretion were prominent traits of their house.

She found it difficult to concentrate in Potions anymore. Her potions were still superb, as Professor Slughorn so liked to point out. But being in the same room as the snakes who had landed her best friend in detention was hard. With no other evidence, Marlene was still scouring cauldrons and sorting jars of pickled salamander eyeballs. Dumbledore, according to Amelia and Potter, was completely off bounds.

And that brought her back to Potter. Slowly, they had been roped into spending more time together. Lily had began to think of him as James, and that thought was horrifying. She'd spent too long avoiding him to break the cycle now. Lily was nothing if not stubborn.

Charms started straight after lunch. As she walked in, she noticed a predicament: there was a seat next to Marlene, which was her usual place. There was also a seat next to Remus, who she had been working with to research Bloodroot antidotes. Since none of them could figure out who the Slytherins intended victim was, they needed to be ready.

Breathing in deeply, Lily weighed her options. She'd spent so little time with her friends so far this year. The longest time she'd been with them was in their dorm room. But she was doing it for Marlene. If word got back to the Ministry that Marlene had allegedly harmed the scion of a house, her father could possibly be ruined. So it was with the best intentions that Lily sat down next to Remus, trying to ignore the guilt churning her stomach.

"Oh, Lily," Remus' eyebrows rose in surprise. "Are all the other seats taken?" Remus' biggest problem was that he never seemed to realise how nice he was. A pretty boy with light brown hair and soft features, Remus was more 'the boy next-door' type of guy compared to his friends. His face, though marred by scars, always held a kind expression, though there was always a feeling that Remus was holding a part of himself back. Lily wanted to get to know the real Remus Lupin, the one his fellow Marauders knew.

"I decided to sit next to you, is that alright?" Remus nodded meekly and smiled, pushing the ink pot between them as an indication to share. Definitely the nicest Marauder, as Lily had always thought. She glanced over at Marlene and only saw the mound of blonde ringlets. Just fantastic.

Professor Flitwick clambered up the pile of books placed in a staircase formation and waved at the students still walking through the door. Flitwick was tiny, with a thick, bushy white beard and crows feet gathering in the corners of his eyes. His mastery of charms made him a powerful dueller, and Lily had no doubt that he could beat almost anyone put against him.

With a flick of his wand the door closed. Professor Flitwick clapped his hands together and said, "We'll be continuing the Cheering Charm today. Wands out and at the ready!"

Lily and Remus withdrew their wands and pointed them at each other. Remud gestured for Lily to go first, knowing just how much she enjoyed Charms lessons. Once upon a time, Ollivander had informed her that her wand (10 1/4", Willow and Dragon Heartstring) was perfect for Charms. He, as usual, had been right.

Lily pushed her dark red hair from her face and uttered the charm without missing a beat. Remus began to grin and chuckled a little. He gave her a shaky thumbs up and waited for Flitwick to use the counter-spell.

Far along the table, students had started bickering. Looking past Remus and James (gah, Potter!), Lily spotted Mary, Marlene and Dorcas in a rather heated conversation. About what, she couldn't tell.

"They're upset with you," Remus told her suddenly. Lily squinted at him, wondering if she had said her thoughts aloud. He gently placed down his wand and closed his eyes. "You've not been spending time with them, and Marlene is getting annoyed about it."

"What about the other two?" Lily asked. Remus' seemingly super hearing had flown past her head. Severus had once tried to steer her through his wacked conspiracy theories on Lupin, ranging from spell augmentation to full blown lyncanthropy.

"Mary thinks you probably have your reasons. Dorcas is just playing go-between. I can't possibly imagine Cass would get involved in arguments if she could help it." Lily smiled devilishly. Remus was terrible at playing cool; his crush on Dorcas Meadowes, the punk chick of Gryffindor tower, was blatantly growing. Marlene teased Dorcas about it often, as Remus was the only person permitted to call her Cass, other than her parents.

Someone slammed a copy of ' _Champion Charms by Ramona Wiffle_ ' and Lily just knew that person had curly blonde hair and a Gryffindor attitude to match her tie. Seconds later she had stormed out from the classroom and slammed the door with enough force to frighten poor Professor Flitwick, who fell from his makeshift pedestal with a squeak.

Remus sighed and flicked his wand. Professor Flitwick clapped his hands as the books flew back into their original place. "Oh, well done Mr Lupin! 10 points to Gryffindor for excellent charms work, and another 15 for helping a member of staff."

The lesson went on without any further interruptions, and ended with Dorcas catching Lily just before she left the room. "Talk to Marlene please. I can't stand all the arguing."

"I don't understand why she's so moody," Lily complained. "Am I not allowed other friends?"

Dorcas raised an eyebrow and replied teasingly, "Since when were the Marauders your friends?" Oh Merlin, she'd dropped herself in it this time. Lily scrambled for a reply that would assert her opinion on the Marauders. She didn't like them, she needed their help but no, she couldn't tell anyone why. "Relax, Lils! I'm kidding. I don't care if you and Potter are friends now."

"James Potter and I are NOT friends!" Lily spat back. The tiny little voice in the back of her mind tried to remind her that she had been rather friendly with him lately. She ignored it. She had been ignoring that little voice a lot lately.

Dorcas made a 'mmhmm' sound and linked arms with Lily. If a fight could be avoided, Dorcas Meadowes would try her damnedest to steer herself along that path. With long black hair cut by her own hands and an endless supply of black liner, nobody but Dorcas' friends could have ever assumed she was actually a self-pronounced pacifist. Not that calling herself a pacifist stopped her from packing a punch on the off chance someone pushed her too far. She'd go far in life if she stopped trying to put a stop to every argument she came across.

They made their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts, narrowly avoiding the trick step along the way, with Peeves' cackle echoing down the corridor after them. It was the only class that every Gryffindor in their year had taken. It was also a favourite of several suspicious Slytherins, three Ravenclaws, and Amelia Bones, the lone Hufflepuff.

Ignoring Potter's soul-burning gaze, Lily slid into the seat next to Octavia Harrow, the stuck-up cow she'd been sharing a room with for years. Octavia, however, didn't even acknowledge her. Well, it wasn't exactly new, but this was a different sort of blanking. Octavia's face was pale, her eyes were covered in a glassy sheen and puffy. Even her normally well groomed hair was lank. Lily focused on the ink blots of her parchment paper, uncomfortably counting all the different directions in which the black liquid had spread once it hit the surface. It split seven times, each jet black streak trying to escape the blot leaking through the paper.

"My mum sent me a letter." Octavia spoke up. Her voice was dry and croaky.

"Oh, that's nice," Lily replied quickly. "My mum sent me one last week, it was rather funny-"

"My oldest sisters have joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Ah. Lily's brain seemed to choose that moment to scurry as far from the conversation as possible, because nothing came to mind. Did she offer condolences? Nobody was actually dead, though Octavia's sisters might be if their mother ever saw them again. The Harrow family were avid supporters of Dumbledore. "That's all three of them now."

Good grief, maybe condolences _were_ in order.

"Any reason they'd join up?" Lily asked hesitantly. Sleeping in the same quarters as Octavia had taught her that the Harrow family had short fuses and horrible tempers. She doubted Professor Ferryhill would be amused if a fight broke out.

Ferryhill herself descended the staircase a good twenty minutes into the lesson. Her blonde hair had been pulled tight into a fat braid that she had swept to her left shoulder. Lily spotted a pair of Muggle-brand trainers peaking out from under the Professor's purple robes. She inwardly smiled at the progress several pureblood members of staff were making. Their DADA teacher from the previous year had been prejudice, occasionally pausing between lectures to subtly imply the muggleborn kids in his class wouldn't pass. Lily was almost glad he had been eaten by a dragon.

"Morning, class!" Ferryhill announced her arrival cheerily. Lily rolled her eyes as she spotted Black lean forward in his seat, eyes glazing. Leave it to Sirius Black to get worked up over a teacher. In the corner of her eye, Lily spotted a shaking mass of golden curls. Hands balled into clenched fists and turned white as snow. She dared not turn her head a fraction further.

Professor Ferryhill droned on about an incredibly uninteresting fact about Grindylows for ages. Lily focused on trying to research Bloodroot antidotes. Since nothing had come up in over a month, the Marauders were getting more and more anxious to find out something. Somehow, it always seemed to be Lily and surprisingly Potter doing the reading. Their meetings in the library were awkward, and constantly under the watchful eye of Madame Pince.

Heated whispers, identical to the ones echoing around the earlier Charms class, stopped Ferryhill in her tracks. She peered at the back of the class with squinted eyes.

"Miss McKinnon, if you and Mr Black could save your relationship for after class, it would be greatly appreciated." Lily's eyes squeezed closed without her even trying. Not this again. Time and time again, Marlene had been warned. Sirius Black did not do monogamy. The bloke shagged anything interested.

"No problem, Professor," Sirius purred. His fingers caressed his Defense book as he maintained eye contact with Ferryhill. "I really was trying to listen. Marlene can't seem to take a hint."

Gasps erupted throughout the entire class. Lily whipped around this time, just as Marlene stood up, staring accusingly at Sirius. When he refused to turn around, blank eyed and smirking, she burst into tears and rushed out. Lily's heart sank with each heavy footfall that faded away. Even the Slytherin students seemed aghast.

Professor Ferryhill licked her lips, looking very much like she'd rather be anywhere else but in the class at that moment. "Well... um- shall we continue?"

Lily's fist pressed against the side of her thigh as she juggled the thoughts of running to find Marlene and punching Sirius Black in his smug little face. She glanced across the classroom, and found a pair of hazel eyes staring back at her. Potter raised a brow and shook his head. Who did he think he was, telling her to stay there when his mate was such a prat? Lily shot him the most disgusted look she could muster and spun around to face Professor Ferryhill, who was attempting to regain the class's focus. It was already too late, of course; sixteen year old students were far more interested in gossip than actual work.

~

The Professor never quite managed to rein in the class, and only an hour after Defence Against the Dark Arts finished, Lily could hear the whispered rumours, feel the judging gazes on her back. She paid them no notice, ignoring the heating rush of blood in her ears. 

"Lily!" A familiar voice called, high pitched and breathy, as if they'd been running. Lily slowed to a relaxed stroll to allow Alice to catch up. The small girl took several sharp, deep breaths before launching into babble of words Lily couldn't even decipher.

"Whoa, whoa Alice. Chill, and start again. _Slowly_." Lily said, holding her still. Alice stopped, and began again.

"Marlene and the others are at the lake. Black and Potter and all them came up and Marlene's just getting into a screaming match with Black. Come quickly." Alice grabbed her arm and began to pull Lily in the direction of the courtyard. Lily felt a wave of deja-vu come over her. How many times was she going to have to witness Marlene and Black do this? What's more, they always seemed to make up within an hour, only to start fighting again the next week. And no matter how many times Lily pleaded with and begged Marlene to come to her senses about Black, the love-struck girl never listened.

For such a small girl, Alice had managed to pull Lily to the lake in a matter of minutes. She barely registered her feet moving from cobblestone paths to grass until face to face with Remus and Dorcas, both of whom had grimaces bare on their faces.

"Let me through." Lily commanded. The two parted and let the girl past, and she took a moment to survey the carnage before her.

Marlene and Sirius' bags had been left abandoned by Mary and Peter, who seemed to be playing neutral this time round. That meant Potter, in all his pigheaded glory, had been appointed negotiator. Unfortunately for him, he was doing a poor job of it.

"I wouldn't have bloody minded if you'd done it in private, but you said it in public you stupid ape!" Marlene screeched. Her cheeks burned cherry red, her hair was frizzy and falling into her wild eyes- she really was a mess. Black was fairing far better, much to Lily's disgust. Aside from a faint flush creeping up from underneath his shirt collars, he looked calm. It was only irritating Marlene more.

"And you think making a scene down by the lake is any better?" Black drawled, straightening his tie. He nodded in acknowledgement of Lily's presence, as if unfazed by the crowd their bicker was drawing. Students of all houses had flocked to the lakeside to watch Sirius Black and Marlene McKinnon, two purebloods from great houses, fight it out. Lily could have sworn she heard galleons being exchanged.

"You- I-" Marlene stood with her mouth agape, rather resembling a fish. She whipped her head around to Lily. "Finally! Help me sort out this- this smarmy tart!"

"A tart?" Sirius repeated incredulously. "That's the word you chose?"

"Marlene, I think we should just go inside." Lily finally said. She was tired of navigating the rocky waters that made up this stupid relationship. Catching Potter's eye, she saw his head bob slightly in approval (not that he could ever let his dear Marauder notice, the prat).

"What? No, no!" Lily was taken aback by Marlene's venom, now directed at her. "You're my best friend. You're supposed to help me. This arse-" she jabbed a finger towards Black's direction. "-snogged some fourth year slag and thinks he can just mosey on down here and put those gross lips on me." her chest rose and fell as she took a deep breath. Lily felt her heart sink. There was the beginning of shiny tears in Marlene's eyes. "What, is it because you and the Marauders are all cosy now, eh? Prickhead Potter your new mate? Course, Potter always manages to have everyone's head up his spoiled arse."

"Now hey-" Potter started. Black cut him off, and looked Marlene dead in the eye. Lily saw his normally kind, mostly mischievous demeanour had been replaced by icy fury.

"Take that back." he ordered. Marlene laughed. It was high-pitched and, in Lily's mind, cruel.

"No way! Everyone knows Potter can't stand it if all the toys aren't in his pram. Don't defend him- just because his Mummy and Daddy are the only parents that like you." Sharp gasps and nervous laughter erupted from all around the group. Some of the students had backed away. They'd come down to see a squabble, not to watch two lovers use personal information against each other. 

Lily couldn't stand to see Marlene use such ugly ways to hurt Black. She hated him just as much as Marlene did, but he didn't deserve to have his family problems brought into it.

Black was as pale as she'd ever seen him. Gaunt and colourless. His right fist was tense, clutched around his wand. 

Potter, sensing the argument could get physical, tried to pull his mate away with the help of Peter and Remus. None of them could move him. "C'mon Padfoot, some things aren't worth the bloody detention." Potter snapped. It seemed to snap Black out of it, as he brushed off his mates and slowly turned around, picking up his bags.

Lily sighed in relief. Thank god, they'd stopped a disaster-

"You know what, Marlene?" Sirius suddenly said. It was so quiet, almost a whisper. Lily was struck by how... sinister he sounded. "I think I'm done with you now. I mean, you were a bloody marvellous kisser and an okay shag, but you're a bit too dim for me. Feel sorry for whatever bloke your dad gets you to marry in the future. He's gonna have to look for cleaner mistresses if he wants to spend his entire life around an easy bird like you." And with that, he took off down the hill. 

Marlene sank to the ground. She didn't seem to care about the mud dirtying her socks. Her bottom lip trembled as she watched Black leave, before bursting into loud, heavy sobs as he vanished into the courtyard.


	7. Bludgered

The first Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match of the year rolled around, and still Lily had seen no sign of Black and Marlene being on at least pleasant terms. This, according to Alice, was a disaster, as they made up two thirds of the Gryffindor chasers.

"What's going to happen when they get on the pitch?" Alice lamented at breakfast. She'd proclaimed that she couldn't eat due to stress, like she had the most reason to be stressed over the situation.

Lily had been thrown onto a knife's edge because of the stupid breakup. The Marauders, now declared 'evil' by Marlene, had taken to avoiding their group, meaning her investigation into Rosier's secret plans with Dolohov had been reduced to passing messages to Potter through Amelia Bones. Every message she received back was short and formal. It was beginning to feel like Potter blamed Lily for not intervening in the fight. How was this her fault? She had replied, rather harshly, that if his friend hadn't been such a tosser, none of this would have happened. 

The messages stopped after that.

"We could lose the Cup because of this- Lily!" Alice smacked her little hand on the table, rattling a plate of eggs. One slipped from the platter and landed on some second-year girl, who shivered in disgust and flicked it to the floor.

"It's hardly the most important thing this year, Alice." Mary added. "Our NEWTS are next year and revision begins this year. We should be organising a study calendar and offering tutoring sessions to any students who need help."

Alice glared at Mary over a cup of coffee. "The Quidditch Cup is the most important achievement for Gryffindor house. The House Cup is great and all- but the Quidditch Cup is what brings the house together."

"I think they're all pretty important." Dorcas spoke up from behind her newspaper. "The House Cup is like an ongoing thing, and the Quidditch Cup certainly helps boost house morale, resulting in more points frequently. But our NEWTS are pretty important too. There's time for revision later, when Gryffindor isn't facing it's rival."

"We can't just stop caring about Quidditch because Slytherin isn't our enemy!" Alice insisted. "Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff opened the season, and Hufflepuff was ahead by eight points when their seeker got the snitch. If they play like that against Slytherin in the next match, that'll put them top of the leader-board until we face Ravenclaw." she flung herself back in her chair. "and that's if we win against the birdy troops."

"Well, seeing as our team just walked through the doors, I can't say it's looking great at the moment." Dorcas stated. How had she noticed- she hadn't even looked up from her paper. But as Lily turned to witness the doors of the Great Hall swing open, she saw her friend was right. And for once, Lily wished she wasn't.

The team looked miserable. Potter and Black stalked ahead, silent and stony faced. Their beaters, Pettigrew and a fellow named Jeremiah Rollins, seemed to be the only ones smiling. Even their keeper, Justina Revin, and the seeker, Pollyanna Winstdear, were sour looking ladies.

Behind them all trailed Marlene, as pale as the ghosts that roamed Hogwarts' halls. The hand that gripped her broom was shaking. She glanced over to the four girls, a faint smile ghosting her lips. Then she faded back into her despair, eyes down.

"Poor Lena," Mary whispered to Lily. "She's heartbroken. Black's already moved on to that fourth-year bird he's been cozying up to. She's a Hufflepuff called Georgina Hinkle."

Lily had met Georgina Hinkle before. She'd been one of Mary's mates in Herbology club. She remembered Marlene and Black had paid a visit from time to time to see Mary. The little cow had clearly taken a fancy.

"Speak of the devil." Alice murmured along with them. A short, slightly plump girl with strawberry blonde hair pulled into a plait was bounding across the hall towards Black. She allowed him to scoop her into his arms before planting a disturbingly noisy kiss on his cheek. Hinkle took one look at Marlene's thunderous face and ran back to her table. Now sheltered among her friends, she adopted a cheeky smirk, and began to hiss into another girl's ear, glaring at Marlene the entire time. Lily felt the urge to defend her friend, but it faltered when she saw how utterly distraught Marlene was. The usually perky girl hadn't even combed her hair, or put makeup on.

Lily was going to murder Sirius Black before Christmas, if things continued this way.

"Hullo, Marlene." Dorcas spoke up as Marlene took a seat among her friends. The other girls echoed Dorcas. Marlene said nothing. She tentatively reached forward and plucked a slice of warm, buttered toast from the pile. Dropping it on the plate, she made no effort to eat it. Lily watched as her fat bottom lip trembled, as though she were trying not to cry. Sirius Black would be dying before the Quidditch match at this rate.

"Just to let you know, we'll all be at the match to cheer you on today." Mary added, nervously shifting her glance towards Pettigrew. Lily began to worry that she'd soon witness another Marauder break one of her mates' hearts.

"Even you, Lily?" Marlene asked. 

Ever since the third year, when James Potter had flown up into the air and used charms to spell 'WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME EVANS?' in bright pink sparkles, Lily had refused (despite multiple people begging otherwise) to attend a single Quidditch match that Gryffindor played in. Instead, she would hide in the library. 

But back then, she had spent that time with Snape. Now, after last year, she had no one to hang out with. Since Potter had become surprisingly ignorant of her, Lily supposed it was safe to watch from the stands and support Marlene.

"Of course, Marlene." Lily stated, giving her best grin. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Some colour returned to Marlene's face. She smiled, an actual, genuine smile, and bit into the toast that had been lying on her plate.

"So, does Gryffindor have any awesome strategies we should keep an eye out for?" Alice asked. 

Marlene swallowed the last bite of toast and replied, "Some. Potter and- and Black have been drilling them into us for weeks now. I can't say which ones, they're convinced some Slytherin spy is going to overhear."

"Maybe last year, but not now." Alice said jokingly. Lily winced at the jab towards her friendship with Snape. It had been a friendship none of the girls thought was healthy. "Sorry Lily, but it is true."

"I know." Lily replied sullenly. "You don't need to make a habit of pointing it out though."

"I saw him before, in the courtyard" Marlene added.

"You did?" Lily wondered what he had been doing outside so early. Snape wasn't one to break schedule so easily.

"He was with Rosier and little Black. Heard them mention something about meeting with Avery and Nott." Disgust dripped off every word that came from Marlene's mouth. "I imagine it was some Junior Death Eater meeting."

His group of friends was no surprise to Lily. Snape had fallen in with Mulciber and Avery a week after first arriving at Hogwarts, and the other purebloods hadn't been far behind. Of the ones Marlene had mentioned, it was Sirius' little brother, Regulus, that surprised her the most. Avery and Nott's fathers were known You-Know-Who supporters, and Rosier's great-aunt Vinda had been Grindelwald's lieutenant. Anyone who knew them could tell that they would fall in with the Death Eaters, it was something their families prided themselves upon.

Lily knew little about the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. But even with what knowledge she had, she knew that whilst they believed in You-Know-Who's agenda, their similarities ended there. She remembered a conversation she had once overheard between Potter and Black. No matter how dark and bigoted the Black family was, their patriarch, Arcturus, had taken a solid stance against You-Know-Who after his murder of several members of ancient houses. For Regulus to join the Death Eaters, it meant his loyalties to Voldemort were stronger than his ties with his family.

"I've upset you." Marlene said, ignoring her plate of half-finished toast to stare at Lily.

"What? No! No, I'm fine." Lily lied. But in fact, she couldn't possibly be fine. Everything that had happened so far this year had slowly been confirming her suspicions- and greatest fear. Severus was ready to become a Death Eater. He might have already taken the Mark, though Lily prayed that it wasn't true. If Snape had taken the mark, then there was no hope for him. If he hadn't, then perhaps, Lily hoped, there was a reason why. She just couldn't believe that the friend she used to tell everything, who comforted her whenever Petunia called her names, and stuck by her even when his fellow Slytherins told him she was worthless, could be so evil.

Suddenly Lily wasn't so hungry anymore. She pushed aside her plate with numbing hands she put down to being so cold. It was winter after all.

"The match is going to kick off soon, Lily, we need good seat." Alice stated, urging all the girls onto their feet. Marlene walked off abruptly to catch up with the Gryffindor team, who were now gathering by the doors. Lily looked right at the back of Potter's head, trying to picture a team she would have even considered asking him for help- Merlin, she'd been so bloody stupid.

Potter, as if sensing those seething green eyes burning into that bird's nest of a hair-do of his, turned around and looked Lily straight in the eyes. She felt goosebumps erupt. There was nothing kind or mischievous in those eyes. She couldn't tell if it was just the serious tone of the Quidditch match, or that James Potter may genuinely have grown to dislike Lily Evans.

And in all honesty, Lily couldn't imagine a life where he hated her.

~

The crowds surged ahead to the pitch, pulling Lily and her friends along with them. It was a sea of house colours as everyone raced to get the best seats in the stands to watch what would likely be the most vicious Quidditch match of the year. The Snakes vs Lions match was anticipated by even teachers (or so Dorcas said, as she had sworn Flitwick had taken galleons from Slughorn the previous year after Slytherin's joyous defeat). With Potter as Captain, even Lily, his number one hater, could admit Gryffindor stood a better chance at winning than ever. James Potter was many things, but a bad Chaser was not one of them.

Moments before Madame Hooch arrived to speak to the players, Lily and her friends found themselves squeezed into the front stands. Below them was the Gryffindor players, stood steady opposite their rivals. Marlene's wild blonde curls had been pulled back into two ponytails. Lily couldn't see her face, but she knew everyone on the grass was taking this as seriously as they'd been about their O.W.L.S. last year. She was often reminded of how her Dad would take Muggle football so seriously when he watched from the telly at home.

Madame Hooch, a tall woman with sharp yellow eyes and a short grey bob, said a few words, and then the match was on. The stands erupted into cheers as Gryffindor took possession of the quaffle, held under Black's arm as firmly as a newborn baby. Their commentator, an enthusiastic Ravenclaw named Jeremiah Goldstein, was screaming into his microphone as Potter, Black, and Marlene performed move after move.

"AND THE QUAFFLE IS WITH BLACK, THEN POTTER, THEN MCKINNON, WE'RE AWFUL CLOSE TO THE GOALS HERE- AND MCKINNON SCORES! GRYFFINDOR BEGINS WITH AN ACE LEAD!" Lily jumped up from her seat to cheer as Marlene circled through the hoops with precision, waving mockingly at the burly Slytherin keeper as she passed by them. 

As Slytherin and Gryffindor battled on, Alice leaned into Lily and whispered, "They're not doing so well today."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked her, smiling as Marlene and Potter performed some move that had a female Slytherin chaser skidding across the pitch, barely remaining on her broom and swearing profusely. "They're leading so far."

"You never come to matches, so how would you know?" Alice pointed out. She sighed and began to gesture towards players. "Winstdear hasn't even spotted the snitch- she's usually on it in minutes, its why Potter has her on the team. Even the Beaters have been missing their mark."

"Meaning?" Lily asked.

Alice let out another long, impatient sigh, before continuing, "Meaning, I think Potter saved his pep-talk for just his Chasers today. Lena and Sirius breaking up will have really affected their playing abilities, so Potter's likely gotten in a sharp word."

Realisation was quickly dawning upon Lily. The match had been going for, what, twenty minutes now? Their Seeker was just fluttering about, glancing at Potter every five seconds like she didn't know what she was meant to be doing. And had Lily even seen Black and Marlene pass the quaffle to one another once? Potter had always raved about how the chemistry between the three chasers kept the match going long enough for Winstdear to finish the game. If that chemistry wasn't there, then Gryffindor may begin to crumble.

And Alice, as per usual, was right. Over the next few minutes, the sides began to falter. Slytherin scored again, and again, and again. Their Captain, a scrawny girl called Lucinda Talkalot, was screeching gleefully as she made a full circle of the stands. Lily resisted the urge to boo. Alice did not.

"Oh, Frank would be so ashamed of our house if he saw this." Alice lamented. Lily watched Dorcas and Mary exchange looks, rolling their eyes with quick smirks gracing their lips. A flash of heat pumped in Lily's chest. She briefly had time to register it was jealousy before-

WHACK.

Someone screamed. It was only after Alice gripped her tight that Lily realised she had heard herself.

"Oh, Merlin!" Goldstein muttered, completely unaware of the microphone. 

Those who hadn't seen the incident had it relayed to them through the stands. A bludger had swooped around the pitch and flown at James Potter, who's Beaters never even noticed the heavy ball until it was barreling into Potter's hip. If not for Flitwick casting a heavyweight levitation charm, Potter would have been gunk on the ground after his long, painfully silent fall.

Lily, seized by a sudden loss of air in her lungs, raced around to the stairwell that lead her to the pitch, followed closely by Alice, Mary and Dorcas. She met with Remus halfway down, and was shocked at how maddened the usually quiet boy looked. He jumped the last set of stairs, bounding towards the pitch where a pale-faced Potter lay.

It was an awful scene. Black was knelt over Potter, snarling at anyone who looked his way. For what he did to Marlene, Lily hated him, but watching him cradle Potter's head in his lap, tears streaking down his dirty face, was unbearable. Behind him was Pettigrew, who was babbling at both Hooch and McGonagall in a similarly hysterical state. As Lily got closer, she could make out what he was saying.

"Its my fault, I was meant to be watching for bludgers but Polly saw the Snitch and- and I got distracted." he cried. McGonagall explained to him that it wasn't his fault, and relief washed over the older teacher's face as Madame Pomfrey hurried over, conjuring a stretcher under Potter's unconscious body. Still, Black tried to hold on.

"Mr Black, we need to take your friend to the Hospital Wing." Professor McGonagall said, pulling Black's hands from Potter's gently. She reassured all three boys, and the Quidditch team, that they could visit Potter shortly. 

Lily took Marlene's hand and guided her back to the Main Hall, where she was accosted by several students (mostly first-years) who excitedly asked if this always happened in Quidditch. As Lily tried to use her most Prefect-ish voice to politely tell the little goblins to bog off, a much smaller voice made herself heard.

"Everybody MOVE!" the first-years scattered, revealing the voice to belong to the small, frizzy haired Susannah Hoffenboffer. The little girl stepped in front of Marlene and offered her a small hand. Marlene sniffed, and took it. The sixth-year and first-year ascended the moving staircase to the Tower, leaving Lily to find a way into the Hospital Wing.

After avoiding large crowds of gossiping students like a plague, Lily found herself on the corridor to Hogwart's Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey, much like Professor McGonagall and Madame Pince, was not a woman to take lightly. She took her job as Matron seriously, and anyone caught being stupid in her infirmary was likely to find themselves on the opposite side of the door.

Lily was only able to knock once before Madame Pomfrey cracked the door open slightly. Her face tightened with surprise. "Miss Evans! I didn't expect to see you down here." she peered down at Lily over her glasses. 

"I- I wanted to check on Potter- James." she corrected herself. Speaking about Potter as if he was her mortal enemy wouldn't get her in to see him.

" _You_ want to see James Potter?" Pomfrey asked her. Lily winced at the incredulous tone in her voice. Was her hatred of Potter really that widely known? She'd have to think of an excuse fast, or else Pomfrey might accuse her of coming here to injure Potter more than he already was. Under different circumstances, Lily may have been tempted. Maybe.

"One of his teammates is my best friend," she added quickly. "she's very upset, so I thought I'd check on Potter for her while she gets some rest after the match."

Pomfrey's face changed, the hard creases beside her eyes softened as she peered back into the room and relented. Lily thanked her and walked in quietly, seeing several other patients lying in beds around the infirmary.

Potter was at the far end, still, but awake. Confusion misted over his eyes as he watched Lily walk towards him. His jet black hair was messier than it had ever been before and he wasn't wearing his glasses; they were placed on the bedside table alongside Skele-gro. Lily shuddered at the thought of his injuries, if they were bad enough to be needing Skele-gro to fix them.

"Potter," she addressed him, aiming to be polite as possible. Playing nice with the Marauders had partially caused some of the rift between Marlene and Sirius, and she didn't want to damage her friend even further. Potter said nothing back. "how bad is it?"

"Broken hip," he replied nonchalantly, as if this sort of thing happened every day. "Pomfrey says it'll mind overnight, should be free to go tomorrow," he peered up at her, his eyes squinting slightly. "you here to finish me off then, Evans?" 

Lily couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "Marlene's went upstairs, she's quite upset. I thought I'd come see if you were alright, let her know, you know?" and for some reason, she giggled nervously. Sweet Merlin, what was wrong with Lily today?

Potter raised an eyebrow. "So... Marlene sent you here?"

"What- no! I-I just thought-" Lily tried to backtrack quickly. This was going wrong so bloody quickly. Her perfectly fool-proof plan had been ruined. "I was worried too, I thought of it on the way down here." there, she had admitted it. Now to pray Potter didn't find it funny.

And surprisingly, he didn't. He just lay there and frowned. "So you hate me so much that you lied about wanting to see me? Why bother?"

Oh bugger, he'd taken that completely the wrong way. Lily could feel her cheeks rising to the same colour as her hair. Maybe it was best she left soon. 

Lily spoke softly, "Look, Potter, I know I think you're a pig-headed prat, but it doesn't mean I want to see you hurt," to prove this, she dug into her pocket and reached for the Chocolate Frog she had been saving for the end of the Quidditch match. "consider it a get well present."

Potter took the frog gingerly, holding it between his thumb and middle finger. Lily's own hand brushed his, but instead of leaving it there, Potter whipped his away like she was carrying a contagious disease.

It hurt. Lily sensed the hollow pang in her chest, and when her eyes began to sting, she stood up and wordlessly fled the hall, leaving Potter to stare after her.


	8. Amor Absque Fiducia

_"How long does it take to find a single bloody ingredient, Black?" Evan snapped._

_Regulus peered out from his hidden spot by the open cupboard doors and sneered at Evan with blatant disgust, he spoke words of twisted venom, "Be careful how you speak to me, cousin." the young boy warned._

_Evan laughed. It was an empty, humourless chuckle. "I'm not your cousin, merely an unfortunate relative by marriage," he stalked to Regulus' side. bent down slowly, and whispered in the boy's ear. "if I were your cousin, I assure you, you'd be a lot less cheeky with that silver tongue of yours. Now where. Is. That. Ingredient?"_

_"I have it," a curt voice called from the doorway. Snape almost glided to the cauldron and dropped in something yellow and pungent. The potion bubbled and spat lime green droplets. "if you'd have paid attention, then you would know Slughorn gets a fresh supply of skins from Sprout. It took five minutes to procure and they'll be a lot more potent than whatever dried up husks he has in that cupboard."_

_Snape, it seemed, was proving to be the most intelligent member of the group given position under Evan. Calculating and a master of keeping to himself, the half-blood was proving his worth, keeping up with even the purest of Snakes. Evan knew Avery and Nott hated that Severus had been given such an important job in the mission. They didn't seem to understand that Snape was perhaps the best potions brewer that ever existed, except perhaps Lily Evans._

_Ah, Evans. The one weakness in Snape's otherwise icy exterior. Everything that made Snape a Snake seemed to fade away when the red-headed Lion was around. He'd have to warn Snape about being near her; she was far too smart for her own good, verging on Slytherin-like qualities at times. If anyone could fail this plan the Dark Lord had, it was her and the bumbling Marauders._

_The two boys quickly began brewing the potion. It was a difficult one, and Antonin had informed Evan he fully expected the potion to fail a few times. As long as it was finished before the school year was over, the Dark Lord would be happy. Evan believed that he wanted to make the Dark Lord happy. His father had always taught him that loyalty to the Dark Lord came above all. Dispose of your friends, your lovers, your ambitions. Everything must be sacrificed to accomplish the Death Eaters' purpose on this world._

_Evan pondered on why the older, more experienced Death Eaters had not been chosen for such an important task. Surely the Dark Lord wanted people who he trusted to accomplish his goals? Evan remembered the pride he felt over being chosen, especially over his cousin Bellatrix, who considered herself the Dark Lord's most loyal follower. After seeing her at the one meeting he had attended, Evan could concede that it was possibly true. Bella was eager to kill and torture for him. Evan wasn't so keen on taking lives at this point._

_"Can you give me a guess as to when the potion will be ready?" Evan asked Snape. The young man looked at him through a curtain of greasy black hair, lips curling._

_"If we succeed at getting it right, it will need an additional month to strengthen, and then must be bottled carefully," Snape replied, keeping his words slow and deliberate. Evan's annoyance flared. Just because Snape was a a good potions student, didn't mean he had to be such an arse about it. His arrogance was infuriating because it rarely felt like arrogance at all. He did not boast as Avery did, or cheer upon winning like Nott or Mulciber. Instead, the way he spoke, like he was explaining to a child, made him sound like he knew everything better than anyone ever could._

_Well, Snape had not been handpicked by the Dark Lord himself. He had not been vouched for by Antonin Dolohov, one of the most skilled duelists to ever live. He was just a half-blood, born to an alcoholic muggle father and a weak mother who's magic skills faltered as she let her husband rule her life. Even Regulus, with his pure blood and powerful family, had not been given the leadership of the Dark Lord's plot. Antonin had suggested it was Evan's lineage (specifically, his great-aunt Vinda, who had served under Grindelwald) that had won him the role in the Dark Lord's plans._

_He'd been careful so far. McKinnon was still set to take the fall, and her father would soon follow. He just needed to stop Regulus' older brother, Sirius, from questioning the boy, and keep Snape as far away from Lily Evans as possible._

_Such a shame about the Evans girl. He supposed she could have made a powerful ally if she'd been of purer blood. Her being muggleborn didn't matter much to Evan personally, but he knew the Dark Lord and most of his followers did not share the same liberal ideas of blood purity as he did._

_If it meant getting rid of Lily Evans to keep Snape focused on his work, so be it. Their lives were in the hands of the Dark Lord, and Evan had no plans to die._


	9. The Room On The Seventh Floor

Snow fell in mid-November, and continued into the Christmas break. Lily sat at her window, having watched over early December as her dorm mates each said their goodbyes and left to stay home for the holiday. In her pale hands, she clutched a letter, pausing to stroke Bobbins as she reread it for the third time.

_Dearest Lily,_

_How had your year been so far? Your father and I haven't gotten many letters from you and we're getting worried. Are you eating properly? Have you let your socks get holes in them again?_

_I thought I'd write to you, and mention that your sister has invited her boyfriend to stay with us for most of the Christmas break. I know you and Vernon don't get along, so I wouldn't be surprised if you decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas._

_Please send this owl back with a letter telling us if you'll be at home or not. If you decide to stay, its okay sweetheart. Me and Dad will send the presents up, we remember how to get in Diagon Alley to do it now!_

_Loving you, always,_

_Mum and Dad._

Lily couldn't find the strength to cry about it. She'd sent her letter back with the rent-a-owl telling them that no, she would not be home for Christmas, and that she missed everyone terribly. Naturally, she had left out the possibility of Death Eaters at Hogwarts. If Mum heard about it, she'd find a way to pull Lily from the school as soon as possible.

The dorms were the quietest they'd ever been since Lily had started. It was the first time she had ever stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas, and part of her dreaded the suggestion that she may be the only sixth-year Gryffindor who'd remained. Marlene had offered to stay behind, but a stern, three page letter from her parents had arrived. News of her supposed potions accident had gotten to the Ministry, and Avery's parents were threatening to ruin her father's reputation unless she was properly punished. 

And there was the only reason that staying behind could be a blessing in disguise. Maybe with people gone, and the castle less crowded, Lily could finally work on proving Marlene did nothing wrong in potions class. The Slytherins were up to something, she just knew it.

Descending the staircase, Lily heard laughter and loud, animated voices echoing from the common room. Thinking it was younger students, she squared her shoulders, fully prepared to use her position as Prefect to convince them to quiet down.

Instead, she came face to face with a gaggle of Marauders. All of them.

"Evans!" Black crowed, delight playing in his grey eyes. Lily had met his brother and two of his cousins (thankfully not Bellatrix) and the resemblance was uncanny. Narcissa and Andromeda, like all Blacks, had those startling grey eyes, sharp jaws, and high cheekbones. When she had met Andromeda in Diagon Alley, Lily had been ashamed at gasping; if Andromeda Black had not had kinder eyes, and lighter hair, she could have easily passed as her sister, Bellatrix. Even Sirius resembled Bellatrix more than her younger sister Narcissa, though Lily would never say it to his face.

"You four?!" she spluttered, momentarily forgetting that they could hear her. She felt her cheeks heat up as they all looked at her in confusion, wondering what they had done wrong this time. "right, that came out wrong- what are you all doing at Hogwarts? Don't you have better places to be?"

"Not really," Pettigrew piped up. The warm light of the fire caused his one brown eyes to turn a dark shade of gold as he explained why he'd not gone home. "me Mum's been having some trouble with a couple relatives of mine. Figured it was safer to stay here." by relatives, Lily knew he meant his father and uncle, who had joined the Death Eaters when Peter was a young boy in Ireland. Mary had explained to her how his mother had taken them to England and hidden under as many charms as possible, else Peter's father return to take his son.

"Same with us," Black added, clapping a hand on Potter's shoulder. Potter avoided looking at Lily, causing knots in her stomach she couldn't quite explain. "Jamie's parents have gone on some wild Auror sting, and we'd rather be with our mates than have the house to ourselves." Lily didn't bother asking Remus for an explanation. The poor lad had stayed at Hogwarts every Christmas, citing money difficulties at home. Every year, Lily secretly asked Pettigrew to sneak into the Hogwarts Kitchens and ask the elves to supply Remus with extra food when he woke up, with a note from Lily. Maybe, since she was at Hogwarts this year, she could find a way into the kitchens and do it herself.

"So, I guess we're all stuck together for Christmas?" Black grinned mischievously, eyes glinting with glee at the prospect of getting Lily to hang out with them. Lily grimaced, though she couldn't find the eagerness to put any actual dislike into her expression. With nobody else around, who could she talk to but them? "whaddya say, Evans? Fancy spending Christmas with us troublemakers?"

Three of the four boys leaned over their chairs, eyes wide and ready for her to say no. Lily glanced at Potter, and noticed he had just barely turned his head towards their conversation. Not enough for anyone else to notice it from their positions beside him. But stood in front of him, Lily saw. 

It was risky. Marauders liked to cause mayhem and chaos everywhere they went; they played pranks and jokes better than Peeves on his best days. This could seriously damage her chances of Head Girl.

But when was the last time Lily had ever had fun? She'd always been about studying, and proving that even muggleborns could be great witches and wizards. She'd never been a prude, or a stickler for rules, but she respected the authority of her teachers. Without them and Hogwarts, she'd have never met the great friends she had.

And she was so close to losing one of those friends. If Marlene's dad couldn't fix things, Lily could bet a hundred galleons that Avery's parents would demand Marlene be expelled. Even though the McKinnons were allied with the likes of the Potter and Longbottom family, their status was a big part of their success. If their only daughter was expelled, it could have serious repercussions for her Dad and, by extension, the War. Lily needed the Marauders help, even if they were the last people on Earth she ever wanted near her.

"Okay, Black," she decided, watching as all four boys reacted with looks of shock and absolute bewilderment. "I guess you'll all have to consider me an honorary Marauder for Christmas."

Black -or Sirius, Lily supposed she would have to refer to them by first names for a while- paused in his action of stopping Peter from choking, and grinned from ear-to-ear. He faintly resembled the Cheshire Cat from _Alice in Wonderland_ , her favourite childhood book. When he spoke, she had to try and fight the urge to smile along with him.

"Best. Christmas. Ever."

And that was it. Lily found herself dragged into games of Exploding Snap and Gobstones until the late afternoon, when James, Sirius and Peter disappeared to the Hogwarts Kitchens for a late night snack. Left to play a small game of Exploding Snap with Remus, Lily found the day hadn't been a nightmare.

"Having fun?" Remus asked her, smiling as he placed down and card and leaned back to avoid the sparks as it exploded. Lily blew on a few strands of her hair as the sparks caught them, causing several ends to sizzle. 

"Suppose so," she replied, trying to seem like she couldn't care less about hanging out with the people she had despised for years. She was doing this for Marlene. In Lily's eyes, Sirius Black was the biggest prat alive, and James Potter was no different. Peter and Remus could be nice, but as Marauders, they were in the same boat as their idiot friends. "you don't get into as much trouble as I originally thought."

"Ah, you thought we spent all day playing pranks and teasing first years?" Remus asked teasingly. His eyebrow disappeared under soft brown hair, stretching the scars along his face. Lily felt herself trip over her words as she tried to dig herself out of the hole she'd made. It hadn't even been a day, by Godric. 

"I- I'm- no, not quite that," she gave up, shoulders slumping in defeat. Remus looked amused by her glum expression. Thank god, Lily thought she might have found a way to offend him. "Merlin, that went well."

"It's fine, Lily, we can be a handful, I know that, but we do other things aside from pranking Filch and bothering people," Remus chuckled to himself, "well, pranking Filch happens more often than I'd like to admit, but the miserable sod usually has it coming to him."

Lily didn't even bother to stop the guffaw that built up in her chest. Filch, the gloomy, sadistic caretaker of Hogwarts, was hated by everyone who knew him, especially the Marauders, who ended up on his bad side more often than not. Everywhere he went, he threatened to hang students upside down in chains, or strap them the wall by their thumbs. To make matters worse, he was almost always accompanied Mrs Norris, his precious cat. Lily loved cats more than any other animal, but even she could admit to lining up her foot to aim a well-placed kick at Filch's fleabag cat. Wherever Mrs Norris went, Filch was sure to coming hobbling around the corner, gleefully handing out detentions for so much as a patch of mud on the floor.

Remus won the first hand, and Lily soon followed, bringing the game to a draw. As they played on, Lily thought back to something Sirius had previously said.

"What did Sirius mean when he said he and James would have the house to themselves?" Lily asked nervously. She didn't want to pry to much into the Marauders' business, as she'd likely be shifting to her old dislike for them when Marlene came back. 

Remus grimaced. "it's probably something you should ask Sirius." he replied quietly. Lily sensed something darker laced into his words. Curiosity got the better of her.

"Did something happen?" she asked. First Marlene had spat verbal abuse regarding Sirius' family, and now it sounded like he could be living with James Potter. Sirius Black was a prat of epic proportions, but he didn't deserve to be potentially abused by family.

"Sirius' mother happened," Remus answered, his eyes darkened and his brows were locked together. Even the scars across his face seemed menacing. "You know about his cousin, Andromeda?"

"I've met her," Lily shifted in her seat, crossing her legs. "she works at St Mungo's, yeah?"

"Yeah, she does," Remus placed down another card, allowing Lily the opportunity to win a round. "but she's more known in the pureblood communities for getting engaged to Theodore Tonks."

"Tonks?" Lily tried to place the name, it didn't sound pureblood. "never heard of them."

"Of course not Lily, Ted Tonks' parents are muggles."

Lily sucked in a breath. To a family as biased as Sirius', Andromeda marrying a muggle-born was enough to get her disowned. Even so, she wasn't sure what that had to do with Sirius staying with Potter- James.

Remus answered her thoughts before she could even translate them into words, "Sirius found out Andy was disowned and brought it up at a family event, a huge one. His mother threw him out, blasted his name off the wall and made sure his brother stayed away from him."

Oh Merlin, Lily thought, imagining how painful and humiliating that would have been for Sirius. Could her family have done such a thing when they found out she was a witch? Thrown her away without another thought and pretended they had only one child? Sirius Black was a prat, and pretentious, but she also knew he made a point to stand against everything the Black family stood for, and had never treat Lily the way purebloods like Mulciber or Parkinson had.

"So James' parents are okay with him staying there?" Lily asked. In truth, she didn't really know too much about Potter's family. She knew he was an only child- and a spoiled one at that.

Remus shifted in his chair, rubbing his nails against his palms, finally, he said, "James' parents know he's there, and I'm sure they'll properly welcome him when they get back."

"Get back from where?"

"Bulgaria." Remus answered. Lily was taken aback by how gentle, yet dark his voice was. Like a steel knife slipping through silk. "You-Know-Who's been recruiting overseas apparently, it was only a matter of time, I suppose. James' parents are running the anti-Deatheater operations, so they've been gone a while now."

"How long is a while?"

"Since July."

"July?!" Lily spluttered. Her heart sank, it felt like it had been sitting in quicksand. That meant Potter had spent all summer alone, until Black started staying. He'd gotten on the Hogwarts Express alone too. Lily tried to imagine a year when her parents wouldn't come see her to the platform. It wouldn't have ever happened, her dad always took the day off work, and her mum left whatever chores she had to finish with Petunia. Imagine standing alone in that chilly station, watching mothers tearfully kiss their children goodbye, fathers help their kids carry their trunks. James Potter hadn't gotten any of that this year. Maybe he had arrived alone for a few years.

Lily's mind was laughing at her. Just a month ago, she and the Marauders had been mortal enemies. They would pull pranks, she would report them, and so the cycle continued. Look at her now, playing Exploding Snap with one troublemaker while the other three sneaked to the kitchens to bring back as much food as they could carry. And she was letting them.

Well, if Remus could be a Prefect and a Marauder, then so could she.

~

As she won the very last set (and scorched stubble from Remus' chin) the other boys burst through the Fat Lady's portrait, carrying mounds of delicious, mouth watering snacks. Piping hot pumpkin pasties, a basket of freshly buttered bread rolls, everything you could think of.

"The House-Elves have outdone themselves today." Sirius crowed, shoving a bread roll each in Lily and Remus' hands.

"He's right," James added, adjusting his glasses. His hand twitched, as though he ached to run it through his hair. "there's enough to feed the whole common room."

"Or a very hungry Padfoot." Peter threw himself into an armchair and tore into a chicken leg. The other three boys laughed.

"Shame there's no chocolate." Remus said, packing away their cards for another game sometime later. "Honeydukes would be amazing right about now."

"Well then, let's finish up here and go!" Sirius suggested. He bounced to his feet and swept the remaining two bread rolls into his arms. "We'll use the passageway."

"A passageway? To Hogsmeade?" Lily asked, eyebrows raised. 

"Not to Hogsmeade," Sirius leaned in, eyes glittering with excitement. "It leads into the cellar of Honeydukes itself."

All of a sudden, Lily was hit with a dozen different realisations. This was how the Marauders could disappear or reappear anywhere in the castle, eluding both Filch and McGonagall. She'd always admired that skill from afar, though she'd rather have died than mention that to any of the Marauders. For all the boys messed around, they were very intelligent. Potter- James- had trumped her in Transfiguration every test, though she always returned the favour in Charms. If Snape didn't do as well in Potions Lily figured she would be top of Slughorn's class too/

Gah, why think of Severus at that moment? She wondered how he would react if he knew she was being friendly with the boys he loathed more than his father, and that was definitely saying something. Lily had never liked being in the same proximity as Tobias Snape. Even his wife and son preferred to stay as far away as possible. The man was a creepy, sadistic drunk and a bully to his family. Lily could never see why Mrs Snape married him.

The four Marauders were already pulling on their jackets when Lily snapped back to reality. They were nice enough to wait while she dashed upstairs to the girls dorms and threw on a denim jacket. Peter said goodbye to The Fat Lady as they left.

"So, where is this passage?" Lily asked, curious to know the secrets of Hogwarts. She had been here just as long as the Marauders and, quite frankly, was a little jealous they had found it before she did. Lily remembered how she and Marlene dragged the girls from their year around Hogwarts in first year to find as many secret places as they could. As a muggleborn, the prospect of hidden doors and secret passageways was like jumping into a fairy-tale book, minus the princesses and witches that were evil and covered in warts. The only warty witch Lily had ever run into was an unpleasant cauldron-seller after a curious stroll down Knockturn Alley. She'd never returned again.

"Not far," Potter replied, bounding up the staircase two steps at a time. Lily saw he was wearing muggle-brand shoes. "its inside a statue of a humpback witch."

"The statue of Gunhilda of Gorsemoor?" Lily asked, mentally kicking herself. She had passed that statue thousands of times, and seen the Marauders lurking around it more than often enough. How in Merlin's name had she not put it together? She was a Prefect for Godric's sake, this was almost part of her job.

"I mean, if that's what her name is." Potter- James!- shrugged. Lily opened her mouth to inform him that they had learned about her in History, but decided against it. He spent most of his time in that class enchanting the chalk to write rude words on the board when Binns wasn't looking, he wasn't likely to listen to her rant about the importance of the class. Even Lily found it to be needlessly dull.

The four boys lead the way until they were at the statue, where Remus quietly opened the witch's back and beckoned the others inside, as Peter climbed up, he frowned and looked across the hall, "Isn't that Rosier?"

Lily whipped around, and found that Peter was right. Rosier hadn't noticed them; he was preoccupied by a letter in his hands. His dark hair was messy and unclean, and his robes were lopsided, falling from his left arm.

Potter turned to the rest of the Marauders, "Go on without us, we're going to see what he's doing."

"Could just be making a visit to the Owlery, Prongs." Sirius reasoned, pushing Peter down the hole and climbing in himself. 

"The stairs are on the other side of the corridor, Padfoot," James elbowed Lily, "fancy a bit of sleuthing before we go?"

"I was going to follow him even if you went to Honeydukes." she replied, confused about why her heart raced when he flashed her a cheeky grin before pulling her along with him. What the bloody hell was going on with her?

They kept their distance from Rosier, making sure there was always cover to hide behind in case he got suspicious. He carried on until he had circled the floor back to the stairs, climbing higher and higher until they had reached the seventh floor. James pulled Lily behind a knight's suit of armour as Rosier paced the floor, mumbling to himself like a madman. A rumbling sound echoed through the halls, like a storm had erupted inside Hogwarts. When Lily peered around the armour, Rosier had disappear.

"Where did he go?" she asked, jogging to the spot she'd last seen him in. It was like he'd walked through walls.

"In there." James pointed to the wall Rosier had paved in front of. There was nothing there.

"Impossible."

"It's not, if you knew it was the entrance to a secret room."

"A secret room?" Lily couldn't wrap her head around it. There was no sign a door had ever existed there.

"Yes, a secret room, Evans," James ran a hand through his hair, ignoring Lily's narrowing eyes. "its called the Room of Requirement, and it only appears when you really want something, like a place to study in quiet, or a good snogging spot."

"Familiar with that one, Potter?" she spat back, surprising even herself with the venom in her tone. "sorry."

"No worries, and yes, Evans, I've snogged one or two girls in there. But we mostly use it for inventing pranks." he admitted, shuffling his feet.

Neither one of them spoke. James just turned around, and started walking in the direction they had came. Lily followed, regretting she ever asked.


	10. Almost Date

The journey through the passageway to Honeydukes was dark and grimy, and Lily emerged feeling like she needed at least four showers before she could be clean again. James stepped out a second later, brushing dirt from his jeans and laughing like a maniac. 

"Is there not a cleaner way into the store?" Lily complained, ruffling her hair to get rid of all the dust she was sure had gotten caught in the red locks. James shook his head, moving past her to open the door. He stopped, bent down, and picked up a silvery, translucent cloak. Lily gasped. "that's an-"

"an invisibility cloak?" he finished her sentence for her, smirking. "yeah, and it's mine. Moony must have left it here so we could get through without being noticed."

"But- but how do you have an invisibility cloak?" Lily's mind was buzzing with all sorts of questions. Merlin, had he stolen it? It explained why nobody ever caught them at the scene of the crime after a prank was played.

"Inherited it from me dad, its a family heirloom of sorts." James explained, patting the cloak to remove dust from it. "shall we, Evans?"

Lily paused. Standing under the cloak meant being close to James Potter, definitely something she had not been expecting to do this Christmas. It wasn't even at the bottom of her list. Nervously, she stepped closer, allowing Potter to drape cloak over them both, muttering something about how thankful he was that Lily was shorter than him.

They exited the room and sure enough, they were in Honeydukes. Rows of candy jars lined the shelves, in all sorts of flavours and forms. Cockroach Clusters and Chocolate Frogs and so much more. There weren't many students in because of the holidays , so Potter stood behind a rack of Everlasting Gobstoppers before whipping the cloak off. He scanned the store for the other three; they were nowhere to be found.

"Excuse me," he called to the shopkeeper, an older woman with orange hair. "have you seen three lads in here? Two tall, one with scars on his face?"

The woman smiled at his, revealing a mouth missing two teeth. "Oh yes! They told me to tell you and your girlfriend that they went to another store, and to meet them in The Three Broomsticks."

"I'm not his girlfriend." Lily protested, words echoed by Potter. She was honestly surprised he was truthful enough to correct the woman. The old James Potter would have jumped at the chance to call Lily his girlfriend. His maturity in the situation surprised her, and maybe annoyed her a little bit. She could hate the old James Potter, it gave her a valid excuse to avoid him and his gang. A maturer, responsible James meant she couldn't use her usual reasons to tell him to bog off. She'd spent to long cultivating a personality that bubbled and seethed with hatred at the mere sight of his stupid hair and arrogant grin.

Potter led her from the store after purchasing a bar of dark chocolate and some gobstoppers. It was snowing outside, and Lily, having expected to be in and out of Honeydukes without ever stepping foot into the village, wore only a long sleeved shirt. She could almost feel her lips turning blue. James turned to her with a concerned look, brows furrowed. "Do you want to borrow my coat?"

"I'll b-be fine." she huffed back, rubbing her arms as if it was going to do any good. Potter kept insisting and insisting, and Lily tried ignoring him, she truly did. But he just wouldn't seem to bloody shut up.

"At least take my scarf, Evans." he unwound the red and gold striped scarf from his neck and wrapped it around Lily's before she could refuse. She thanked him under her breath and shuffled alongside him.

The Three Broomsticks was old. The wood was chipping away and the door creaked loudly whenever someone entered or exited. The inside of the bar was a lot more homely, with a crackling fireplace and chatty customers, all waiting for their warm pint of butterbeer. It was possibly Lily's favourite drink. In third year, she had visited the village every week with Marlene and drank three bottles of butterbeer before returned back to the castle. In her opinion, it should have been served at Hogwarts during the winter months.

James found a table at the back, far away from anyone else. Rosmerta, the busty landlady of the pub, followed them over. "Anything you two would like to drink, dearies?"

"Two butterbeers for now Ros." James replied, flashing that stupid trademark smile at the woman. Rosmerta blushed and hurried away.

Lily glared at Potter. The bastard had the nerve to look confused. 

"What?"

"You know what," Lily spat. "flirting with Rosmerta- she's like ten years older than you!"

"I think she's a fair few more than ten, Evans." he replied, obviously trying to turn the whole thing into a joke. 

"It's just- it's gross, okay? You're gross!"

Potter laughed, wiggling his brows at her in mock suggestiveness, "jealous, are we?"

"Jealous?" Lily spluttered, trying to understand if he was joking or not. With the Marauders, you could never tell. "of Madame Rosmerta?"

"Well, she is very..." Potter swirled the word around in his mouth, like he was trying to find a better one that was less likely to get him killed. "blessed?"

"Are you referring to the fact that she's got bigger tits than I have, Potter?"

He backpedalled, quick. She'd never seen James Potter go such a dark shade of red before. It was fun to watch him squirm, trying to find a way out of the whole he had unwittingly dug himself out of. Good. It might have taught him a lesson. Maybe Potter would think twice before comparing women's bodies in a conversation again.

"Not as smooth without your mates to back you up, eh?" she mocked him. Rosmerta returned with their butterbeer, confusion apparent of her features when James kept his head bowed and mumbled his thanks. Lily smirked. Finally, she had won in a battle of wits against Potter. 

Feeling a lot warmer, Lily removed the scarf from her neck, and noticed the initials J.C.P sewn into the fabric. "What does the 'C' stand for?"

"Umm, Charlus." he answered her. The dark blush was receding from his face.

"Like your dad?"

"Yeah," he looked up and smiled at her. Ugh, gone was the embarrassed teenage boy. "so, Evans, what's your middle name then? Might as well share."

"It's Marie." she replied coolly. If Potter thought she was sharing her entire backstory he could forget it. It was Christmas, and she wanted to be happy. Talking about her sister would only make her miserable and angry.

Potter was mouthing her middle name, almost like he was savouring how it sounded when he repeated it in his head. He took a sharp swig of butterbeer and leaned back in his seat, seemingly not noticing that his foot was brushing Lily's leg. She decided to ignore it.

"We might be here a while," he said, folding his arms. "you want anything to eat?"

"You offering to buy me dinner, Potter?" she shot back. It disgusted her, how pleased she sounded at that idea. Ew.

"I'm a gentleman, Evans." he signalled for Rosmerta.

"What can I get the two of ya?" Rosmerta asked, pulling out a small, dog-eared book and quill. They began to float in midair as she awaited their answer.

"Just a steak dinner for me, Rosmerta," Potter looked to Lily for her answer.

"I'll have the same." Lily said. She'd never eaten at The Three Broomsticks before. Her stomach curled as she dreamt up what kinds of horrific meals she could be served. Perhaps she should have eaten at Hogwarts instead. This was beginning to feel to much like a... well... a...

"It's almost like a date." she blurted out. Merlin, had she really just said that? Lily could feel her cheeks heating up; they were likely the same colour as her hair by now. Lily Evans, the worlds biggest tomato.

Potter spat on the butterbeer he had been drinking. His eyes were wide and flashing with shock behind his glasses. Good Godric, maybe she'd given him a heart attack. That would be just her bloody luck, killing Potter just as they were becoming some sort of friends.

No. Lily Evans and James Potter were NOT friends, thank you very much. She'd always said she'd rather die. She'd rather snog the Giant Squid. She'd rather-

Ah, bollocks. That was all out of the window now. And Lily had been the one to break the glass.

"I mean, its not a date," she tried to explain her choice of words. Mum had always said she was terrible at phrasing things. "I'd rather be kissed by dementors than date you, you already know that."

Potter's head dropped. Great, now she'd offended him.

"You know what, I'm just gonna shut up now." Lily said. She gathered her things, leaving the scarf on the seat for him to pick up later.

"No- wait!" Potter lurched forward, out of his chair. He grabbed her shirt, and looked at her pleadingly. Lily looked into his eyes, noticing flecks of green in the brown of his eyes. "at least have some food, it should be ready soon."

Lily slowly slid back into her seat. Other people in the pub had started to notice them. Lowering her voice, she replied, "Fine. But we need to find something to talk about otherwise we'll end up going in circles."

"Quidditch?" Potter offered. Lily rolled her eyes.

"No."

"The Weird Sisters?"

"Don't like their music."

"Family?"

"Definitely not," Lily sighed, throwing her head against the back of her seat. "we're never going to find something in common."

"Well, why don't we talk about something one of us likes, and take turns?" Potter suggested. His hand twitched towards his head. Lily chuckled at how hard he was trying not to run it through that shaggy hairdo of his. He looked like a wannabe version of a rock band her Mum was a big fan of. "Like Charms- how did you find Flitwick's homework?"

"Oh, it was wonderful," Lily breathed, leaning across the table. Charms was her best subject, she could talk about it for hours. "I mean, it was difficult, but once you finally learn the different between all those jinxes and hexes, it becomes such a beautiful pattern of spells."

"I've been finding it a bit difficult to learn," admitted Potter. "some of the hexes look like jinxes, and then jinxes look like charms- and don't get me started on spells that can be considered both. I don't understand how you manage, Transfiguration is so much easier."

"That's because you work using your Transfiguration knowledge," Lily insisted, amused at how difficult Potter found it. All that bragging about being smart clearly wasn't always accurate. "I've seen you."

"Oh, so you're watching me now." Potter wiggled his brows at her again. It seemed to be his main (and only) move.

"Oh, bog off," she laughed before explaining where he went wrong. "you see spells as going from 'point A' to 'point B'. Yeah, that works in Transfiguration, but Charms is an art. There are no course markers."

"I can't help it, I'm a chaser," Potter defended himself, laughing along with Lily. "you get the ball, you try to put it through the posts. The same should apply to spells in my opinion."

"So, the wand is, what, you?" she asked. The two of them paused for a moment, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Lily's ribs began to hurt, and her vision was blurry as she teared up and she couldn't breathe and then James had his hand on hers-

Potter was holding her hand.

Lily stopped laughing, though her heart continued to thump to the beat of a dozen drums. It was like a horror scene, where the music gets louder and louder as the killer approaches. The killer was Potter's hand. His hand on her hand like this was some date.

She ripped her hand away, relishing the moment his palm slapped against the wooden table. It almost broke her heart when she glimpsed the hurt on his face, but the memories of all the young witches she had seen sat with Potter in this very pub held the pieces together. She wasn't about to be another one of the Marauders' flings. A fan-girl Potter would keep around before tossing aside for the next witch to catch his eye. 

"I'm going to go now." she said. Her voice was hushed and cracking with every word. Lily barely even registered wrapping his scarf around her neck until she was up and at the door, pushing through. James Potter hadn't followed her, hadn't tried to stop her. She was right. He didn't really care. Lily was stupid, so bloody stupid.

"Lily?" a familiar voice called. She stopped in her tracks. Blood as cold as the snow falling around her. She was too scared to turn around. Not now, not now of all times. "what're you doing at Hogwarts? I thought you'd be home by now."

"Sev- Snape," she replied shakily. She turned around, keeping him out of her line of sight. Hadn't she suffered enough today? "it doesn't matter that I'm here, just-"

"What's that?" Snape asked. Lily flinched at the venom in his voice. She looked up into those dark eyes and followed their line of sight. Bollocks. Snape had zeroed in on the initials J.C.P in the scarf. There was no way she could pretend it was anyone else's. "Is that Potter's scarf?"

"It's not what you think," Lily halted him in his tracks. She could see the rage building in his eyes, they burned with it. His usually sallow skin was gaining colour. "We came to Hogsmeade at the same time and I was cold-"

"You and Potter? Potter took you to Hogsmeade?" Snape spat Potter's name as if the word burned his tongue. Lily had never seen him look so livid. "What, are you a- a thing now? Is that it? You ditch me- your friend- and get with that pathetic arsewipe?"

"No!" she shouted, stepping backwards. They were beginning to amass a crowd of elderly witches doing their weekly shopping, and instead pausing to overhear the gossip. "You really think that I would hang out with James Potter of all people? Willingly? He's helping me, you twat, and that's it! I wouldn't let that big-headed, arrogant twat touch me if-"

"So I was forcing you to sit with me in there?" Potter's voice was loud and sharp and angry. Sweet Merlin, how had Lily managed to get herself into this position?

"Potter, I-" Lily tried to make something up, but Potter sliced through her sentence as swiftly as a knife through butter.

"Arrogant twat, am I?" he stepped forward, snow crunching beneath his shoes. "big-headed?"

Lily wilted. She looked around, and spotted Snape's face disappear into the crowd, tears forming in his black eyes. Potter kept inching closer, until he was face to face with her. He leaned down and whispered,

"Don't bother giving back the scarf, I don't want to be anywhere near something that's touched you." Potter stormed away, joining with the other Marauders, who were hanging out on the hill that led to the castle.

Lily's legs were trembling. Her blue fingers clutched at the scarf as she fought to keep her face straight. 

Dear Morgana, what had she done?


	11. Summa Perfide

_Evan sat at the window of the rented bedroom, watching as Snape left, and then confronted the redhead he had always been infatuated with. It was amusing, watching Evans fumble as both Snape and Potter turned against her. He had to give her respect though; the woman hadn't cried, though by Salazar she seemed to want to._

_"Shouldn't men like you be above such petty teenage drama?" Antonin rose from the bed, crossing the room in few strides. He pressed his hand into Evan's shoulder blade and rubbed._

_"I am," Evan replied, allowed a small smile to grace his face. "but it's just so amusing to watch the little witch stress- she's usually so held together when I speak to her."_

_Antonin snarled, "Shouldn't be speaking to her at all. Pureblooded men like you have no time for uppity mudbloods."_

_Evan's nostrils flared. "Don't call her that."_

_Antonin rolled his eyes in exasperation, but smiled down at Evan anyway. He spoke firmly, "If the Dark Lord finds out about you carry sympathy for the mudbloods, you might find yourself out of his favour."_

_"I don't make my opinions public, Dolohov," Evan stood up, brushing Antonin's hand from his shoulder and leaning against the dresser._

_Dolohov was his closest ally amongst the older Death Eaters, but even they had their differences. The biggest being their opinions on the Muggleborns. Antonin was a pureblood of staunch tradition, all supremacy and inbreeding. His belief was that those with non-magical lineage were merely lucky, and their families unworthy of considering themselves magical. His stories of torturing Muggleborns twisted Evan's stomach into knots._

_Muggleborns were inferior, yes, but magic ran through their veins. It had to be for a reason. Evan couldn't believe the Dark Lord's lies that they had stolen the magic of purebloods. He was quickly realising he couldn't believe a lot of the Dark Lord's malevolent whisperings._

_Antonin opened the package he had_ _brought_ _into the room hours before. Evan didn't dare look inside again. Snape's face had been torn between confusion and horror when he had seen its contents. Some of the rarest potion ingredients in the world were neatly wrapped inside. If the potion worked, they'd be put to good use. Though the definition of good varied here._

_"This should be the last of what you needed," Antonin said, clicking the latch shut. "tell the other two to be careful with these, the Dark Lord went to a lot of trouble to provide the very best for you. Do not let him down."_

_"I won't." Evan replied. The Dark Lord was not the biggest of Evan's worries. His father had inflicted more pain upon Evan in his life than the Dark Lord ever could. An original follower of the Dark Lord in his teenager years, Lord Rosier's temper had proved too much for Evan's beautiful, kind mother._

_"How are things progressing with your associates, anyway?" Antonin threw himself onto the bed, gazing at Evan through long lashes. "are they proving their worth?"_

_"Black and Snape, yes," Evan replied. Was he willing to sell out the others? Yes, he most certainly was. "Nott and Avery have done nothing but whine about their roles."_

_"Oh really?"_

_"Yes. Avery seems to think he should have a higher position in the plan, and Nott-" Evan's upper lip curled. "she's becoming far too clingy and dramatic."_

_"She's your betrothed, Evan, the girl just wants to get to know you." Antonin said._

_"She's annoying."_

_"She's just a girl, Evan. She'll grow out of it."_

_"Even if she does, I have no interest in her at all, you know that," Evan turned on Antonin, who seemed just as unfazed as ever. "you should understand that better than anyone, with your own problem."_

_"Problem?" eyebrows raised, Antonin sat up, ignoring loose strands of curly hair that hung in his eyes. "you mean my bride-to-be?"_

_"Yes. Her." it boiled Evan's blood that Antonin could be so cool with arranged marriages. They were old fashioned, and sooner or later more families would see that. Parents like the Potters, Longbottoms and Bones' never forced their children to marry girls who were likely their own cousins. Even the Malfoys had promised to put an end to arranging marriages once Lucius and Narcissa Black were wed._

_"Aurelia Harrow is a wonderful girl, you would get along." Antonin insisted. Evan could only snort._

_"Her sister is in my year, and I'm sure Aurelia is just as obnoxious and chatty as Octavia."_

_"Octavia follows her blood traitor family- something her sisters have rebelled against."_

_Oh, how could anyone forget? The prestigious, Dumbledore-loving Harrow family. All Gryffindors. Evan had been just as shocked as every other member of the Wizarding community when Lavinia, Aurelia and Hortensia Harrow had been added to the Most Wanted list of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's followers._

_"Hey," Antonin had moved from the bed to Evan, resting a finger under the younger man's chin. "this changes nothing."_

_"Nothing?"_

_"Nothing at all," The two stared at each other for a moment- icy blue eyes melting into dark brown ones- before Antonin reached behind Evan to grab the box of ingredients, pushing it into the Slytherin's hands. "now get back to the castle and hand these to Snape and Black. We've got a politician to assassinate."_


	12. Secrets

By the time Christmas was over the the students were returning to school, Lily had regretted not going home to Cokeworth more times than she could count.

She told the girls about what happened the minute they returned to the dorm. Marlene had never been so happy, loudly singing a horrid, made up song about how awful each and every Marauder was, and how much she wished they would get eaten by a dragon, or drowned in the lake by the Giant Squid.

"Did she get worse over Christmas, or am I imagining it?" Lily whispered to Dorcas. Marlene was now orchestrating a dance routine to her song with Fiona.

Dorcas looked up from applying her smudged eyeliner, staring at Lily like she'd asked the most obvious question in the world. "I think she's advanced from her grieving breakup stage to anger. Only, she's choosing to take it out on all four of them."

"I feel kinda bad," Lily admitted. "I treat Potter like crap in Hogsmeade-"

"No, you did not!" Marlene bellowed, pausing her dancing to jump on Lily's bed. "Potter is a weasel, just like his mates. You weren't obligated to be nice about him because he was helping you."

"But-"

"No buts Lily, no buts," Marlene grinned, flashing pearly white teeth behind the red lipstick she had applied. Since breaking up with Black, her makeup had gotten back to the bold, sexy look Marlene McKinnon was known for. "I for one am looking forward to a Marauder-free school term. No Potter, no Lupin, no Pettigrew and especially no Sirius bloody Black." with that, the blonde grabbed Dorcas by the arm and left the dorms. 

Lily loved her friend, but the girl could take things too far.

"Well, she's gonna be a barrel of laughs this term. I hope she doesn't try and find another lad to snog to make Black jealous," Lily joked to Mary, the only remaining girl in the room once Octavia and Fiona left. Mary was silent, picking at her jumper with unsteady fingers. Her eyes were shiny. "Mary?"

"I was hoping she would move on from Black and forget the whole Marauder business," Mary whispered. She looked at Lily and a single tear was shed. Bollocks. "I have something to tell you."

Oh no. "Please don't say what I think you'll say." possibly not the best words that had exited Lily's mouth this year, but she hadn't had many good things to say either, so what the hell.

Mary seemed upset for a moment, but continued anyway, "over the Christmas, me and Peter were exchanging letters and- and I think we're, like, an item now."

Oh no.

Lily sucked in her breath. Marlene was going to flip her shit. Pettigrew was an arsehole. Nice to people, but a Marauder, and therefore an arsehole by default. And Mary (sweet, innocent Mary who had just had her first kiss during the summer) was his girlfriend. Lily felt like she was going in circles. One mate dumped a Marauder and then the next started dating one. Who next? Would Remus and Dorcas finally act on their crush on each other? Her and Potter?

Ew. Lily sneered inwardly, noting her skin wasn't crawling like it used to when she thought of Potter romantically. Not that she had ever considered Potter in that way.

Bollocks.

"So, what now?" Lily asked Mary. There was literally nothing else to say that wouldn't push Lily over the edge. She'd had enough bloody drama this year.

"I don't know!" Mary dug her nails into her palms. "If I tell Marlene, she'll freak and then, like, our whole group is over. I need time, I wanna wait for her to simmer down."

"It's Marlene we're talking about here, Mary."

"I know, I know!" Mary wrung her hands, now imprinted with tiny red half-moon shapes. Lily held back a wince. "and wait till she gets wind of Dorcas and Lupin!"

"What now?" Lily could barely believe what she was hearing. Had she jinxed it? Or had every single one of her closest friends missed the 'Marauders suck' memo?

Mary recoiled, making Lily realise she was probably being rather unfair about the whole idea. "Yeah, they've made plans to meet up for coffee in London over next summer and stuff. I think its pretty ace, Doe never talks to boys."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Lily asked. The signals in her brain weren't working anymore, trying to process why Dorcas Meadowes, the first ever friend she made at Hogwarts, was suddenly keeping secrets. They'd exchanged letters over Christmas. Not once had Remus Lupin been mentioned in anything. And the same with Mary.

"You're not around much anymore, Lils," Mary replied softly. "you've been so wrapped up in this big plot about You-Know-Who and Rosier and whether or not to trust Potter that your own friends haven't seen you, except maybe, like, class."

Lily thought back on the days she had spent with her friends and, with a dispirited realisation, understood what Mary meant. In trying to save her best friend, she had inadvertently shunned all of them. Worst of all, her first thought had been to enlist Potter and his Marauders instead of her own mates. Bones was alright, and she had an honest reason to bring her into it, but Potter's parents were the aurors, not him. Maybe she shouldn't have gotten involved at all, and just sent an owl to aurors or spoken to Dumbledore about what had happened.

Mary squeezed Lily's arm in reassurance, the picked up a copy of the Herbology textbook and left. Lily took a deep breath and then followed her down to the Common Room, avoiding glancing over at the Marauders playing Exploding Snap. Her eyes flickered to Potter involuntarily. He was hunched over his cards, with his eyebrows furrowed and his face angled away from Lily. It hurt to be ignored, when for so many years it was all she had craved. James Potter was ignoring Lily Evans, and for once it wasn't the greatest thing that had ever happened to her.

~

Without any classes, the time at Hogwarts passed slowly. Lily and Alice, bored of the countless studying sessions and snowball fights, retreated to the library to find some peace and quiet. Alice regaled Lily with stories of her Christmas, which had been spent with Frank and his parents.

"Frank's mother is a wonderful woman, but I get the feeling she disapproves of me or something." Alice spoke quietly, head turning towards the front of the library, where librarian Miss Pince was known to lurk, hoping to catch rowdy students.

"What makes you think that?" Lily asked. She winced at how robotic she sounded, like Alice's problems were the last thing in the world she cared about. In truth, they were, but she was determined to spend the rest of the year supporting her friends. 

"I dunno, she just never seems to want to talk to me," Alice threw herself forward so that her crossed arms now rested on the table. Her small chin was leant against them, pointing her face up to look at Lily like a puppy in trouble. "last week I tripped coming to dinner and she just, like, tutted at me. Frank apologised afterwards like three times or something."

Lily shifted in her seat, pretending to be interested in a book about aquatic magical creatures. "Maybe she doesn't like the idea of you dating her son?"

"Maybe," Alice agreed solemnly. "but it would be nice, y'know, to think she liked me and all. I love Frank, I really do."

"I know, Ally, I know." Lily produced a genuine smile. Alice and Frank were absolutely adorable together. They suited each other well, even if Frank's mother apparently couldn't see it.

Alice, who never seemed to be able to stay quiet for more than a handful of minutes at a time, continued to talk, "you know who else I've noticed getting awfully cosy?"

Lily already knew where this was going. "If you say Dorcas and Remus, I will hit you with this book."

"How did you know?"

"Mary. You?"

"Also Mary." Alice replied, giggling slightly. The sunset beyond the window reflected off her dark hair, illuminating the pixie cut she had worn since fourth year. 

"Well, she's clearly not very good at secret keeping, is she?"

"I suppose not," Alice leaned back in her chair. "you think we should give them a helping hand?"

"Who?"

"Dorcas and Remus!" Alice slammed down the book she was holding. It echoed through the library, the sound filling every walkway between the shelves. A floating manual on raising grindylows dropped to the floor. Miss Pince rounded the corner in seconds, glaring at the two girls with beady narrowed eyes before snapping her fingers in the direction of the exit.

"Bollocks." Lily sighed, packing up her things. She rolled her eyes at Alice, who stuck her tongue out in response. Lily was sure Pince enjoyed kicking students out of the library. Marlene had joked several times now that they should set her up on a date with Filch, as both hated children.

A lightbulb turned on in Lily's head. 

"What if we set Lupin and Doe up?" she said as they walked down the corridor towards the stairs. Alice's eyes lit up. Ever the hopeless romantic, she squealed and danced around a bit.

"Like on a date?"

"No, Alice, like a prank- yes on a date!" Lily's blood was rushing through her head. She already had so many ideas.

"Why change your mind?" Alice asked, eyeing Lily with suspicion. "you hate romantic stuff, I can't even get you to read Wuthering Heights because of the love story."

"Look, I've been a bit of a crappy friend lately," Lily admitted. "maybe it's guilt- or maybe I want to see at least one of my friends happy- but I need to prove to you all that I'm still your mate."

Alice swooped in like an eagle, pinning Lily's arms to her sides in a bone-crushing hug. As Lily gasped for air, Alice said, "you've always been our friend, Lils. I know what happened with Marlene is really affecting you, but we'll figure it out together."

"Thanks, Ally."

"No problemo," Alice smirked and her dark, wide eyes glinted in the fading sun. "so when are you getting with a Marauder?"

"What?"

"Well, we're gonna help Lupin and Doe get together, Mary and Pettigrew have clearly got something going on, and Marlene and Black were an on and off thing since third year."

"That leaves Potter," Lily pretended to gag, eliciting a sharp peal of laughter from Alice. "eww, no thank you."

"Oh, why not," Alice leapt up the stairs as the two girls climbed further upwards to the Gryffindor Tower. "he's hot, cool, he plays quidditch like a pro..."

"He's also an arrogant prat who thinks he's the king of Hogwarts and treats everyone else like his peasants." Lily retorted. Though, as of late, it hadn't seemed that way.

They reached The Fat Lady, who was beginning to doze off in her portrait. A glass of mulled wine was spilling from her hand, and her cheeks were rosy. Lily coughed loudly to get the portraits attention.

"Password?" The Fat Lady mumbled sleepily, eyelids fluttering. Even after six years it amazed Lily that the portraits felt so real and alive. When in fact, the real Fat Lady had likely died over a hundred or so years ago. Wizarding life-after-death was so unusual, but comforting. She could imagine watching over her own descendants in the future like this, should Lily ever have children.

"Dragon Scale." Alice answered. The Fat Lady opened the door, resuming her snoring before the portrait had even closed behind Lily and Alice.

The Common Room was empty, aside from two people asleep on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Blonde hair was illuminated in the firelight, causing it to look like gold. Lily watched as the girl shifted, and her hair fell from her face, revealing that it was Marlene. And curled into her side was the annoying first year, Suze Hoffenboffer. 

"I thought Marlene didn't like that kid?" Alice murmured to Lily, who shrugged in reply. Marlene often didn't like a lot of people she didn't bother to know well. It was amusing to see the first year and sixth year girls curled into the corner of the sofa. Lily had only just noticed that Hoffenboffer shared Marlene's wild mane of curls, only hers were orange.

Fetching a blanket from a spare armchair, Lily bade Alice goodnight and set about getting the two students comfortable. She draped the blanket over them, noticing Marlene's cheeks were tracked with silvery tears. Lily made a mental note, yet again, to murder Sirius Black in his sleep.

As the blanket fell over Marlene, Lily heard a faint sound, like paper folding under a heavier pressure. Lifting the blanket ever so slightly, she found the source: a letter clutched in Marlene's hand. 

Lily hunkered down on her knees, trying to make out what it said. She vaguely recognised the handwriting as Sirius Black's. Rage boiled over and Lily plucked the letter from the sleeping girl's hand with the goal of reading whatever foul excuses the boy had wrote and then tossing it into the fire. Its contents, however, left her shaking.

_Dear Marlene,_

_I hope its alright if I write to you. I used floo powder to travel home from Hogsmeade to collect some of my things over summer and found myself speaking with Regulus. The poor lad is struggling without me but not much I can do, can't live with that hag I had to call a mother anymore._

_I'm worried about him, Lena. He's holed up all the time, reading this stupid bloody book on poisons. I'm worried he's fallen in with the Junior Death Eaters. He's only a kid, for Merlin's sake!_

_I've taken a page from his book- I'm sure he'll definitely notice it. He's made tons of notes and all that crap. It's a dangerous poison he's looking at, Lena. Maybe you could get your dad to pull some strings and investigate it? Just try not to bring up who it's for, I don't want Reg in trouble. He's brought the book to Hogwarts, I'm 100% certain of it._

_Please write back if possible, don't mind if you won't, I know I wasn't great._

_Yours,_

_Sirius_.

Poisons. Lily would bet all the galleons in the world that the page Sirius had stolen was about the Bloodroot poison. But why did they need it? What exactly was Regulus Black making? Though she knew it couldn't just be him, the boy was too young to attempt something so serious on his own.

The answer hurt her more than it should have. Severus. One of the best potions students at Hogwarts would be able to brew the Bloodroot poison with ease if assisted. No wonder he had been roped into their plan. 

Lily had to get that page from Sirius. Even if it meant swallowing her pride and making amends with James bloody sodding Potter.


	13. Cowardice

Lily slept all of two hours, setting her alarm early. Once it hit seven she leapt from bed and dressed, sprinting downstairs to the bottom of the Boys' dormitory. As people began to wake up and get ready for the final day before classes started, Lily waited for the sixth-year boys to leave. Lupin and Pettigrew left, followed by Benjy. Realising the only two boys left up there were Potter and Black, she quietly made her way up the stairs and knocked on the door.

Potter opened the door, because of course he would. And he was shirtless. Lily squeaked, throwing her hands up to her eyes to block out the view of a half-naked James Potter, still bleary-eyed and sleepy. She was not attracted to this side of Potter, no way.

"Evans?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. Good, he was tired enough to forget how awful she was to him at Christmas. Lily needed to move quickly and apologise so she could find that damn potion recipe.

"Listen, Potter, I haven't got time to explain, but I need to apologise to you about what happened in Hogsmeade," she burst into speech, tucking strands of dark red hair behind her ears. "it was cruel of me and I don't know why I felt the need to make up stories- especially to Snape of all people."

"Shhhhh, Evans." Potter give her a half-smirk and her heart leapt higher in her rib-cage. "s'okay, I'm cool with it."

"Bu-but you were avoiding me."

"I thought you didn't wanna be friends anymore." Potter said. Lily could see how hurt he was, his mouth twitched like he was trying not to cry. 

"Of course I want to be friends!" the answer came without thought, without question. In giving him this answer, Lily realised she had done what everybody at Hogwarts had never thought would happen. She had stopped hating Potter with every ounce of her being. She had surprised herself, though not as much as she had seemed to surprise Potter.

His face brightened. It was like a new life had been breathed into him. Wordlessly, Potter moved aside and let Lily in.

Black was reclining on his bed. His hair was wet, telling Lily he had just emerged from the shower. Potter threw himself on his own bed, his head rested against the bedpost.

"I read your letter to Marlene." Lily said, gaining Black's attention easily. His eyes widened in what Lily thought could be genuine fear. Her temper was legendary amongst the Hogwarts Houses.

"And?" he asked, reverting back to his usual smug self. Prick. Lily thought about turning around and walking away, but the thought of the Slytherins using that poison when she could have stopped them forced her to stay. She would not have someone's blood on her hands when she could have stopped it from happening in the first place.

"I know what your brother is doing with that poison."

Both the Marauders stood in unison, looking at Lily like she had grown a third head. She wasn't sure whether to be insulted by how surprised they looked. She had already told Potter she had fully intended to find out exactly what Rosier and his band of wannabe terrorists were doing.

"How?" Sirius asked. His voice was low and gravelly, but Lily saw fear in his eyes. The colour had left his face and the circles under his eyes were harsh and prominent. Regulus may have been a Death Eater-in training, but he was Black's brother, and clearly the older boy had been losing sleep over it. Lily wondered why he had never mentioned it during Christmas. She knew he had went home to collect belongings, hoping to avoid returning in the summer before departing for the Potters' house. 

The she remembered that she had called his best friend a prat, and it cleared up. Lily couldn't remember regretting anything so much in her life when it came to the Marauders.

"I'm smart, Black, I've been putting together ideas since I first realised the Slytherins planned the potion accident in September," she sat down on one of the beds, hoping it wasn't Potters. Who knew what kind of germs lurked around his sleeping quarters- not that she cared about where he slept. Potter could sleep in a barn for all she gave a damn. "they're making the Bloodroot potion using Regulus and Snape. If they're really working for Dolohov like Potter and I overheard, that means they're dealing with Death Eaters in a higher power position."

"You think-" Potter started. Lily cut him off. This was her moment and she wasn't having Potter steal her thunder. 

"-this is for You-Know-Who? Yes."

Potter and Black sucked in their breath. An uneasy silence settled like dust on the three of them. It was as if nobody knew what to say first, or how to fix the problem that had grown right under their noses. This was happening in school. Rosier, Avery, Nott, the lot of them, they were preparing to kill someone important enough for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to want dead. And they were doing it in the place Albus Dumbledore valued most.

"We should owl my parents." Potter decided, leaping over a stray trunk to reach for his quill. Lily blocked his path.

"No, that would be a bad idea."

"How?" he challenged, raising his eyebrows in question. Lily noticed they were neatly plucked into shape. How vain of him.

"They're brewing it in the Room of Requirement, most likely," she reasoned, discreetly moving the quill and ink pot from his reach. "meaning that unless they help the aurors inside, nobody is going to find that potion."

"She's right," Black stepped around Potter and wrapped his arm across the other boy's shoulders. The tension in Potter dissipated. "even if the aurors arrest them, other Slytherins could be involved and without proof they made the potion, they would be freed anyway. We need to solve this ourselves."

"Thank you, Sirius," Lily said, holding back a smirk when she spotted the look exchanged between the two Marauders. Like them, she couldn't think of another time she had referred to Black by his first name. Sirius and James. She supposed she could learn to use them. If they didn't bug her into hating them again, that is. "we need to go to the library and find out if they're missing any ingredients. And I want to find Amelia Bones too."

"I'll get Amelia, you and Pads get the books." Potter- no, James, brushed past Lily and hurtled down the stairs, jacket flying behind him as he dressed properly on the way. Lily and Sirius followed suit, exiting the tower and racing as quickly as possible to the library to find whatever they needed. Students grumbled and cursed after them as they raced downstairs onto the right floor, skidding to a half at the entrance to the library. Lily hoped Miss Pince was feeling generous, as usually students thrown from the library were suspended for a week.

Luckily the miserable old broad didn't even pay attention, though her steely glare at Lily felt a little more aggressive than usual.

Wandering down the potions aisle with Sirius, Lily remembered her days as a first year, when she had done a similar thing with Snape almost every Friday. Whilst the others splashed in the fountain or talked Quidditch, here she had been. Between Lily and Snape, they must have read the entire section on potions before third year had even been a worry.

Lily wondered if Snape ever visited the library on a Friday anymore. If he did, was he enthusiastically browsing the shelves for new concoctions to make? Or was he with Avery and Mulciber, finding deadlier brews to test for You-Know-Who? She wondered if his mother knew what her son had become. 

"This is it!" Sirius hissed from the far corner. His hands were covered in grime as he turned through the pages of the old and yellowing book. "its the exact same as Regulus', he mustn't have known Hogwarts had a copy."

"Odd," Lily read through several of the pages. "you would think a book with this many poisons would be locked away in the Restricted Section."

"You would think students would know better than to plan murder under Dumbledore's nose too." Sirius retorted. Lily shrugged, conceding that he did have a point. Sirius' piercing grey eyes flickered from word to word as he read through the list of ingredients that were needed to prepare a poison such as the Bloodroot potion. 

"Most of these were available in Slughorn's cupboard." Lily stated, pointing out several of the bullet points. 

"They're common ingredients in a shit ton of potions, that's why," Sirius replied. He jabbed his grubby finger at the last five on the list. "these ones would have required a little more work to get a hold of, though."

"Then lets hope they haven't been able to find them." Lily added, taking the book from Sirius and clutching it to her chest. 

Miss Pince gave them both a scathing glare as they checked the book out, but showed no intentions of stopping them from taking it. Lily worried about how many dangerous books were not considered bad enough for the Restricted Section. Could Hogwarts really allow this kind of information to slip through the cracks and into the hands of students intending to do harm?

~

They waited ten minutes in the library before James and Amelia turned up. They had not, however, expected the person being dragged between them.

"I should've known the Mudblood had something to do with this." Avery spat, pulling against the grip the other two students had on him. Amelia discreetly slid her wand from her pocket and dug it into the side of Avery's ribs. He ceased all movement, even his breath was short and steady.

"Why do you have Avery?" Sirius demanded, looking between James and Amelia with exaggerated confusion. Lily couldn't believe he could be such a drama queen even in moments like this.

"Found him skulking around the stairs with this," Amelia threw a half-crumpled letter at Lily. She scanned through it. It was addressed to a woman named Sally Solas, the apparent secretary to the Minister for Magic. "not his handwriting, but he drew his wand on us the second we asked him what he was up to."

"Not the greatest at secrecy, huh?" Sirius flicked Avery on the tip of his crooked nose. The Slytherin boy glared at them, but said nothing as he was forced into a chair. Both Marauders had drawn their wands on him by now.

"So, why the letter to the Minster's secretary, Avery?" James asked, hazel eyes narrowed as he watched Avery's lips twitch up into a half-hearted sneer.

"Go to hell, Potter!" Avery snarled. What followed was a whimper as Amelia jabbed her wand into his throat.

Sirius and Amelia exchanged dark looks and, with sudden vigour, gripped Avery's left arm, ripping the long sleeved shirt to his elbow. Lily gasped. There, writhing and inky black, was the Dark Mark. So it was true, they really were Junior Death Eaters.

Avery hissed as Amelia lightly tapped his Mark with her wand. She leaned in, and although she spoke softly, every word felt like acid spitting at Lily's ears. "Hurts? You know what could be worse? Spending the rest of your life in Azkaban. I hear the aurors are more lenient with the Dementors if their victim has the Dark Mark on their arm."

Avery swallowed loudly. His forehead dripped with sweat and when he spoke his voice was shaky and weak, rising to barely above a whisper, "What do you want to know?"

"Why. The. Letter?" Amelia demanded. Her eyes, usually a soft brown, were rocky, two deep abysses Avery was forced to stare into.

"Rosier wrote it-okay? I just had to find a way to deliver it," Avery's shoulders slumped. Lily could see his hands trembling. "we needed an in with the Minister, figured getting close with the secretary and using the Imperius on her would do the trick."

"So the poison, it's for Minchum?" James sounded unconvinced. "how in Godric's name were you planning on getting away with that?"

"Our poison mimics a heart attack, nobody would ever know differently," as he spoke, he became less and less eager-looking to share information. One look at the Amelia, however, untied his tongue. "if anyone found out the bloke had been poisoned, we had plans to pin the whole thing on McKinnon."

"Marlene? Marlene McKinnon?" Lily couldn't understand it. How did any of them expect people to believe the daughter of the Minister's War Adviser would kill Minchum?

"Of course, Marlene- do you know any other McKinnons at this school?" Avery spat, staring at Lily like she was little more than a pesky insect buzzing around him. The hatred in his eyes turned her stomach. This was a boy who wanted her kind dead. He didn't even hide it. He didn't have to. "Nott figured that if we framed McKinnon, it would force her father into resigning. Two birds, one stone."

Lily's head was spinning. If they didn't find that poison, and soon, the entire wizarding world could collapse under You-Know-Who's reign. 

James stood up, brushing off his robes. Suddenly his wand was drawn, and a flash of red light smacked Avery square in the face. The Slytherin boy crumpled.

Amelia leapt to her feet, aghast. "What are you doing, Potter?"

"Don't worry, he'll just wake up later with a massive headache and some serious regrets." James replied, kicking Avery in the stomach.

"We need to send an owl to the Auror Department and have him arrested." Amelia made her way to the Library entrance, but James wrapped his larger hand around her petite wrist. 

"No. Are you crazy?" he asked her, jabbing his wand hand at Avery's unconscious body. "if we have him arrested then the others will still carry out their plan anyway! The potion is hidden in the Room of Requirement- a place we can't access."

"Potter is right," Lily agreed, the horror of that notion steadily growing. She was disgusted with how much she sided with Potter now. Even though the suggestion about the Room of Requirement had been her workings in the first bloody place. "we have to wait until we know the potion is coming out into the open, when the aurors can seize it and arrest everyone involved."

Amelia huffed, blowing dark hair from her eyes. She stared down at Avery, lip curling up. "So, what now?"

Lily swallowed her pride. She had an idea. They were all going to hate it, of course. "I'm going to talk to Snape."


	14. Et Infidelitatis Conscius Defectum

_Avery's cowardly admission to Potter and his allies had been... troubling news, to say the least._

_"IDIOTS" Evan roared, gripping Regulus by the robes and pushing him into Avery. The pair crashed against a desk, sending the chair skidding across the floor. It screeched to a halt at a cowering Esther's feet._

_Avery had the nerve to push the hair from his eyes and snarl at Evan like a beast. Within seconds, Evan's wand was drawn and at Avery's face. Glancing down, he could see that Avery had attempted to make the same move, forgetting Evan's most dangerous skill was duelling. It had been a dumb move on his part._

_"Hold your tongue, Avery." Snape emerged from the dark corner he had hidden himself in. Evan felt a wave of relief wash over him. Finally, someone who was neither annoying nor incompetent._

_"But-" Avery tried to protest, and found himself jabbed in the jaw with the tip of Evan's wand. At Snape's disapproving look, Avery mumbled an apology and backed off from Evan._

_"I asked the two of you for very, very simple things- follow the plan, and do NOT get caught," Evan felt himself pacing the floor before he acknowledged it was actually happening. "and both of you have seemed to do wonderfully at the latter, haven't you?"_

_"It wasn't my fault, Evan!" Regulus insisted. The boy's eyes were shiny with the prologue of tears. "my brother wasn't meant to be home, he ran away-"_

_"And you still managed to screw everything up, didn't you?" Evan grabbed the boy by the shoulders. Fear flashed through Regulus' eyes, quicker than a lightning bolt through trees._

_Snape crossed the room, his pale face illuminated by the green lights of the dungeon. Evan felt the half-blood's bony fingers wrap around his wrist, slowly removing him from his firm grip on the young Black._

_"What're you-"_

_Snape's dark eyes glittered, those thin lips parted as he spoke, "You are not the Dark Lord, Rosier. If they must be punished, do so as Dolohov has instructed. But you are not their master. Remember that."_

_Snape's words, as bitter a taste they left in Evan's mouth, rang true. The Dark Lord had stated that punishment was his to carry out alone. He enjoyed the pain it caused his followers. That part of the Dark Lord was something Evan had only been told about by his father and Antonin. Many of the Death Eaters his age had never had the need to be called to the Dark Lord's side and take whatever torture he wished to carry out. Evan hoped he would never have to._

_Evan backed away from Regulus, instead focusing his attention back on Avery. The other Slytherin shrank into the shadows._

_"Consider yourself demoted." Evan said plainly. Avery's face dropped._

_"You- you heard what Snape said, you can't-"_

_"Punish you? No, I'm afraid I can't," Evan watched the panic fleeing from Avery's eyes far, far too early. "but I can relieve you of your duties. Dolohov was very certain about that. You're dismissed."_

_"But-" Avery stuttered, readjusting his tie slightly. Sweat had begun to form on his brow._

_"Leave. Now." As soon as Evan finished speaking, Avery scrambled for the door, pausing to glare at Evan before his footsteps echoed behind him. Regulus wearily inched towards the door, aching to head back to the common room. With a curt nod from Evan, off he went._

_Esther, of course, took that moment to sidle up to Evan, draping herself over him. Evan pushed down a laugh as he watched Snape's face twist in disgust._

_"What do you want?" Evan asked her. She growled playfully in his ear. Gross._

_"I thought you deserved some attention after the little display you put on," she purred, stroking his hair back behind his ears. "aren't you worried about what Avery might say to his father or the Dark Lord?"_

_"The Dark Lord would have tortured Avery had he been in my position," Evan replied coolly, brushing the girl's pale fingers from his jaw. "he almost destroyed everything we've been building up to."_

_"And what about your father?" she asked. Evan felt every muscle in his body tighten. Orpheus Rosier, Evan's powerful, wretched father, had arranged the marriage to Esther. With one word, she could speed up the engagement and then Evan would be tied to the uncouth little brat for life. He hated his father for what he had done, but hated Esther more for trying to make it seem like they were both happy to be married. Evan could think of nothing more repulsive._

_"He doesn't play a part in this," Evan wrenched the girl from his side and grabbed her by the shoulders. She yelped. Snape, unlike his defence of Regulus, stayed put. "and if you bring him into our plans again, I'll cast you aside quicker than a killing curse hits a Muggle. You and I will never be the perfect couple you seem to be deluding yourself with. Understood?"_

_With tears forming in her eyes, Esther nodded. Evan let go of her and turned his back as she slammed the door. Snape still stood silent._

_"You want dismissed?" Evan asked him. Snape shrugged, pushing greasy hair from his eyes. "you know, you've been the only person this year I've been able to trust. You, a half-blood. You're not even the good type- your father is a Muggle."_

_Snape ignored the mocking tone in Evan's voice and replied, "I'm just as disgusted with my disappointment of a father as you, Rosier. The difference is, I have no problem disregarding mine," he titled his head, those dark eyes burning holes into Evan's. "could you disregard yours as easily?"_

_He waited for no dismissal. Snape's cloak billowed behind him, and Evan's last glimpse was the thick emerald hem flitting around the corner._


	15. Snape's Choice

If Lily had assumed everyone would be cool with her talking to her old friend, then boy, was she wrong.  
  
The three others exploded. It was a cacophony of James, Amelia and Sirius' voices fighting to be heard. They were lucky the corridor was empty, because they had been arguing over it since leaving the library. Pince hadn't even batted an eye over Avery's unconscious form. If he had already woken up, then Rosier knew about their involvement.   
  
But no matter what Lily said, nobody was having it. She may as well have argued her case against a class of deaf people. Every reason she had was shot down, crash landing back where they had started.  
  
The argument and what was to be done had quickly turned into a political struggle. All three brought their family into the mix, offering money, Wizengamot sway, and family ties to help bring You-Know-Who's plan to it's knees. So far, though, the only one who felt like surrendering was Lily. She'd never felt so out of the loop. Here she was, Lily Evans, the muggleborn girl with no way of offering a solution to pureblood teenagers who had Most Noble and Ancient houses in their arsenal. The family name was wielded as a weapon, and stood to come to blows with Rosier and his equally pureblooded crew. Except for Snape.  
  
And that was an area Lily could excel in. "If I can interject on this conversation?" she asked politely, flashing her sharpest smile at the three. Only Amelia stood her ground. James and Sirius, sensing a classic Lily Evans Rant coming, backed off quicker than a house-elf could apparate. "no offense, but it seems like every plan you have so far is to fight purebloods with... well, more purebloods."  
  
"It's the only way the Wizengamot will pay attention, Lily." Amelia explained slowly. Lily's eyebrows raised.  
  
"Then we should be making them pay attention. This war is coming after people like me. Not you, or James or Sirius or any of the other students with powerful families. It's people like me, muggleborns, muggles, whoever isn't considered 'magical enough' to live in You-Know-Who's world." Lily snapped. Amelia's eyes flickered downwards. The faintest plum coloured hues coloured her cheeks and neck. Sirius, somehow, had been sensible enough to stay quiet this entire time.  
  
James felt brave enough to argue back. "You are not speaking to Snape alone, Lily. It's dangerous- he's dangerous."  
  
"He wouldn't hurt me, I'm, like, eighty percent sure of it." Lily replied. James growled in frustration. The rough sound ripped from his throat caused Lily's chest to tighten, her stomach twisted into little knots. Sweet Merlin and Morgan, she was going crazy.  
"Eighty percent isn't enough." James replied, his lips twisting into a sneer she knew was aimed at Snape's very existence.  
  
"It is for me." she admitted. James fell silent. Lily was a Gryffindor, which meant he knew that no matter how hard he tried to stop her, she was going to do it anyway. It was a quality Lily's parents had never been particularly fond of. James likely felt the same way now.  
The wild-haired boy wrung his hands, but released a deep sigh and agreed with her anyway. Lily felt her heart swell with pride. He was admitting she was right. What next, pigs flying? Would she soon receive word that hell had frozen over?  
"But we need to know your exact plan, okay?" Amelia added. "where you'll be meeting, when, and try not to let your emotions take over too much. Snape's a craft bugger."  
"I know how to handle Severus." Lily said, watching James from the corner of her eye. His eye twitched violently behind the shield of his glasses when she referred to Snape by his actual name. Despite James' attempts to tone down his treatment of Snape, it was clear the sallow, sarcastic Slytherin boy was still a sore spot.  
  
With all three worn down, Lily explained the plan to them. it was still early hours of the day, though they had missed breakfast. She would borrow James' owl, and use it to send a letter to Snape, which he would receive by lunchtime. Knowing how paranoid her old friend was, she would have to meet him somewhere quiet and discreet, like the dungeons. To keep her safe, Lily suggested Potter trail her in his invisibility cloak in case Snape brought friends.   
  
The idea of tricking the person who had once been her closest, most trusted friend was heartbreaking. Lily felt her mind split in two. One half knew Snape was falling into the wrong crowd and had to be stopped. The other half, on the other hand, reminded her of all the things she and Snape used to do together when they were close. The walks along the riverside in Cokeworth, the days spent hiding in the library to avoid watching James Potter and his merry Quidditch team show off every bloody game. He'd been her biggest supporter when Petunia called her names, or her old primary school friends stopped playing with her, citing her 'posh new boarding school' as the biggest influence.  
  
It was these memories that played over and over in her head as she headed back up to the Gryffindor common room with James and Sirius. They were talking about the suggestion that Nathaniel McKinnon could resign (something that Amelia had heard through the Hogwarts rumour mill recently) and what that could mean for the Ministry. Lily couldn't focus enough to listen. Her own guilt encased her like a funeral shroud, sentencing her to death for disloyalty to a boy who didn't even care enough about her to refuse to join the man who wanted her dead for being muggleborn.  
  
Lost in her thoughts, Lily didn't even register stepping through the portrait of the Fat Lady until her foot caught on the bottom of the frame. She yelped as she fell forwards. It felt like she was falling in slow motion for a while before a pair of hands caught her. She looked up, expecting to see James smirking at her.  
  
Instead, she was rewarded with a very concerned Benjy Fenwick. "Oh! Benjy." Lily felt her face erupting in lava red. Really? She had been crushing on Benjy since fourth year, he'd even asked her on a date at the start of the year, and this was how she was going to say hello?  
"You're not hurt, right?" Benjy asked her, eyesbrows knitted together. He chewed on his bottom lip, sending the butterflies in Lily's stomach crazy. James and Sirius had disappeared up the stairs, presumably whilst she was spluttering over Benjy.  
  
"No, totally ace," she straightened her skirt and smiled brightly at her fellow Gryffindor. Benjy's hair was longer, she noticed. His fringe was falling into his eyes in a cute, kinda-rock-band type of way. "listen, about that date-"  
  
Benjy cut her off, flashing pearly white teeth, "Actually, I was going to ask you when we came back after the holidays, but I haven't really seen you. I was wondering if you wanted to go after dinner?"  
  
"After dinner?" she asked. If she met Snape after lunch, she could get information from him that would prove Marlene innocent, have dinner later, get dressed and then go on that amazing date with her crush. Could today be any more perfectly planned? "not lunch?"  
  
"I mean, if you wanna go after lunch-"  
  
"No! No, after dinner is good. I have a study session with Mary after lunch anyway so..." she tucked her hair behind her ears, looking up at Benjy with the biggest eyes she could summon. Marlene had taught her that little trick. Said the sweet girl-next-door look worked for almost any man. And Lily really, really wanted it to work on Benjy. The butterflies in her stomach had seemingly turned into acrobats, bouncing around everywhere. It wasn't a very nice feeling, like the rising tide of queasiness before you were sick, but Lily pushed it down. "I, uh, guess I'll see you on our date?"  
  
"Absolutely." Benjy replied, giving her that grin again before passing by and out of the common room.  
  
Lily slipped by everyone and crept up the stairs to the Boys Dorms, ignoring the look one confused first year boy gave her as she passed him. When she entered the the dorm room, all four Marauders were hanging out together. She recognised the muggle music Sirius was dancing to as Led Zeppelin, a band both her parents adored. She resisted the urge to join in with him, instead making a beeline for James and his owl, who was sat digging her claws into the pillows,  
  
"Mind if I write up that letter and send it now?" she asked James. He grunted, not bothering to turn over and look at her. Lily spotted the yellowing pages of a book over his shoulder. "what are you reading?"  
  
"A book." he replied. James paused from his novel to gently nudge the owl in her direction. He said nothing else.  
  
As she walked over to the nightstand, quill and ink in hand, she spotted Remus and Peter staring at her, each sporting looks of identical sympathy. Lily didn't know if they confused or angered her more. Everything was confusing her so much.  
  
The letter didn't take much. James' owl took if and flew through the window left open. Lily hoped she would get a response soon.

  
~

  
Lunchtime glided by achingly slow. Lily sat with her friends, watching the way Mary and Peter exchanged needy glances, desperate to admit they were a couple but terrified of how Sirius and Marlene would take it, seeing as their break up had fractured the uneasy truce between the two groups enough already. Lily had already had to witness Marlene bite through the bone of a chicken drumstick in frustration as Sirius' new Hufflepuff bird sidled up to their table and played a sickly sweet game of guess who. With her hands over Sirius' eyes and tears building in Marlene's, Lily was ready to start casting hexes.  
  
James' owl flew in with the others; she recognised it from the distinctively grey feathers of its chest. She looked across her table at Sirius and James, and then to Amelia a table across. All three, like Lily, had their eyes fixated on the owl as it swooped down, dropping the letter on James' lap.  
  
"Good girl," James cooed, scratching the bird's head. "you're such a good girl, Minerva."  
  
Lily quickly chugged her goblet of pumpkin juice to hold back the laugh she felt bubbling up in her stomach. She'd wager all of her money that James had chosen the name to purposely rile up Professor McGonagall, their stern but sensitive Head of House. She'd wager her parents' money that it had worked once or twice.  
  
The letter made it's way down the table, passed through the hands of a dozen different students sat at the Gryffindor table, until it finally was bestowed upon Lily. It was accompanied by an excited game of chinese whispers as students who had witnessed legendary face-offs between James and Lily wondered why they were passing letters to one another. Merlin, as if Lily had enough to worry about this year.  
  
Lily opened the letter tentatively, first using a simple charm to make sure nothing dangerous was inside. They couldn't be sure another Death Eater had intercepted them. When she was sure it was safe, she pulled out the thin slip of parchment. Her throat dried up as she recognised Snape's neat little scrawl.  
  
 _L,_  
  
 _Meet me in the classroom we used to practise our potions in in half an hour. I can't promise anything until I know this isn't a set-up._  
  
 _Sincerely,_  
  
 _S._  
  
He was smart enough to use initials, she noticed. And he never mentioned a specific room, instead relying on her memory of their old friendship. She wondered if that was for his safety or to make her feel guilt over cutting him off. Lily guessed she would likely never find out.   
  
She focused on eating, signalling to James that they only had half an hour to prepare. His face was cold and completely wiped clean of emotion as they looked at each other. Wordlessly, without even a smile, he patted his pocket to tell her he had brought the invisibility cloak with him.   
  
Lily tried taking a bite of her lunch, but found that she couldn't stomach eating. Speaking with Snape again was making her feel nervous. The same acrobats that had performed in her belly when talking to Benjy had began their routine again. The clock ran by as she stayed glued in her thoughts. It was only when James appeared behind her and leaned in to whisper in her ear that she was brought back to the Great Hall.  
  
"We need to get moving, Lils." the feeling of his hot breath behind her ear caused her to jump. She bolted upright, rocketing into a standing position and sending Dorcas' juice flying. After a quick apology to the disgruntled goth, she brushed past James and almost flew downstairs towards the dungeons. This was it. She was going to have to face Snape again, without blubbing like a little girl with a skinned knee.  
  
She knew exactly which classroom he would be in. Slughorn allowed his favourite students to use it for extra credit, provided they didn't brew anything poisonous or illegal of course. Lily glanced behind her just before she opened the door, glimpsing the silvery material of the invisibility cloak before it enveloped James and disappeared entirely.  
  
Lily drew in a deep breath, and entered.  
  
Snape was stood at a desk, brewing some bright yellow concoction. He said nothing as Lily inched forwards, until she was almost by his side.   
  
"I thought it would look less suspicious if we worked on this Cutting Solution together. You remember it, of course?" he asked.  
  
Lily scoffed. "of course I do, it was the first potion we ever made together," Oh no. She was already letting him distract her, luring her down the path of memories she never wanted to relive. She had to get her head straight, Marlene's life and Nathaniel McKinnon's career depended on it. "but we still need to talk."  
  
"I know," he replied curtly. She accepted the de-veined lightning bugs from his outstretched hand and began crushing them in the mortar and pestle. "Avery told us about your little... confrontation. Rosier wasn't pleased at having to mastermind a new way to get the potion to where it needs to be."  
  
"We guessed Avery would tell," Lily used a wooden spoon to scoop up the crushed bugs, adding the perfect amount into the potion as Snape stirred. So Rosier was indeed the leader behind the plan, but they needed more than that. "but we need more information, a more reliable source-"  
  
"And you figured I might not be as evil as you thought last year," Snape spat. Lily shrank back in fear. It wasn't just the tone in his voice that had changed, it was his very being. His body hunched over, face twisted and eyes gleaming with untamed rage and heartache. He harboured the hurt she had dealt him last year. "and yet you expect me to hand over information on my friends to Potter, of all people? And Black?"  
  
But Snape wasn't the only one who had been hurt. "Your friends tried to pin everything on Marlene, what has she ever done to you? They're Death Eaters, Severus! They want me dead, and everyone like me too!" Amelia's advice about keeping hold of her emotions had apparently fallen on deaf ears. "James just wanted to help Marlene, and-"  
  
"James?" he repeated her, mocking the very name itself, and everything it stood for in his eyes. "oh, you and Potter are on first name basis now, are you? What next, are you going to become an honourary Marauder or some other bullshit?"   
  
Lily had never seen him so angry. His pale face was colouring with a bloodied scarlet hue, making him look more and more terrifying by the minute. Spittle flew from Snape's mouth as he roared.  
  
"Are you a thing?"  
  
"What?" she exclaimed. She couldn't believe he would even ask her that. "of course not! Unlike you, I don't cosy up so much with the first prat who'll have me."  
  
"My friends have nothing to do with this." he insisted.   
  
All of a sudden, Lily's anger, all that pent up rage and grief over the friend she had lost boiled over. Within an instant, her neck was as ruby red as her hair. The classic Lily Evans anger erupted like a volcano long overdue.  
  
"Your friends have EVERYTHING to do with this!" her throat actually hurt from how painful it was to let it all go. "I told you where they were headed YEARS ago- I practically begged you to stop hanging out with them. But you never wanted to listen, did you? You didn't leave them alone because you wanted to embrace that darkness, Sev. You know it, I know it. Admit it, you're one of them, aren't you? One of the Death Eaters pledged to hunt mudbloods like me down, murder us and torture our families."  
  
"You don't understand, Lily," Snape's temper had simmered in the presence of Lily's, suffocated by the sheer weight of her fury. "everything I have ever done, I have done because I care for you-"  
  
SMACK. Lily clapped the hand that had struck Snape over her mouth as she watched the imprint of her palm appear on his cheek. But the guilt was gone just as quickly as the handprint faded.  
  
"You and I," she whispered, for she couldn't speak in words louder than that. "are not this way because you care for me. Don't lie." realising she couldn't say anything more, Lily turned away and left the potion to burn.   
  
As she opened the door, Snape called out,  
  
"Lily, wait! We've always been friends-"  
  
"No, Sev," she breathed, finding words to sharp to speak without the feeling that they were shards slicing her tongue. "we're not friends. You can't fix this."  
  
She shut the door behind her before he could use another excuse. Lily needed privacy, before she broke apart on the dungeon floor.

  
~

  
As the portrait opened, and Lily stepped in, she remembered who had accompanied her to talk with Snape. Oh, and what a useful talk it had been. She'd learned nothing.  
  
"Hey." a soft voice said behind her. James was pulling the cloak off as she turned around. In the aftermath of her violent spewing of emotions, she found his company was welcomed.   
  
"Hey yourself." she replied, stretching her lips into the fakest smile Lily Evans had ever produced in all of her life. She'd not felt like this since Petunia all but disowned her.  
  
"Don't hide it, Lily," James plucked a fleece from one of the armchairs, draping it around her shoulders. "let it out if you need to. Being a Gryffindor means being brave enough to admit when you've been broken down."  
  
It was like she had been imperiused by his words. The tears she had fought back from the dungeons to the Common Room flooded from her eyes. Without a second thought, Lily sank into the sofa in front of the fire, glad that nobody was here to witness her sob over some Death Eater. How pathetic was she?  
  
James sat beside her, never speaking, or making any sort of pitying or concerned face. Instead he pulled her into his side and waited, and waited, and waited for a thousand moments more, until the sobs wracking her body had turned into mild sniffling every now and then.  
  
"It's getting a bit late." he finally said, when the time had passed and the daylight began to fade away into dusk. Lily was fascinated with how the dying sun's light and the dim glow of the fireplace turned James' eyes golden.   
  
"How long were we down in the dungeons?" she asked.  
  
"A while." he replied, rubbing her shoulder in circular motions. Any other time and she would have hexed him for it. But at that moment, Lily needed someone who could do all the things she needed while grieving the true end to her friendship.   
  
"It didn't feel like it," she whispered. "it felt like I was leaving so quickly I barely even had time to be there at all."  
  
"Gonna pretend I understand what that poetic shit means, but I was waiting outside a while," he replied. His attempt at humour worked. She laughed without meaning to, and was thankful for it. "fairly certain we missed dinner."  
  
"Ah, my poor treacle tart." she gasped. James laughed, and in doing so clutched her tighter to his side. Lily found it wasn't too repulsive. She breathed in the smell of cinnamon and caramel from James' sweater, and found it an odd combination for a cologne. When she mentioned it, he chuckled.  
  
"This is my Christmas jumper," he explained. "it fades to black until Christmas and is charmed to smell like my favourite scents of the holiday time."  
  
"That sounds amazing." Lily imagined what her jumper would smell like. She thought of the chocolate pudding her mum would make, and the smell of warm spiced apple cider her dad gave them all on Christmas Eve before bedtime.  
  
The thought of apple cider before bed egged on the lingering feeling of tiredness that had crept up on Lily whilst she lay against James' side.   
  
Secure in knowing James wasn't going anywhere, Lily drifted off to sleep, driving away all memories of the day of heartbreak she had endured.


	16. The Class That Didn't See It Coming

Lily woke up to sunlight streaming through the window of the Girls' dorm, and a sharp nail poking her in the face. Rolling over, she grunted at whoever was bothering her. 

"Rude." the girl huffed, throwing herself onto Lily's legs. Lily yelped in pain and bolted upright, wide awake. Marlene's halo of golden curls were spread at every angle along the bed. Her large eyes gave Lily a reproachful look, as if sleeping was suddenly a crime.

"How did I get up here?" Lily asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in the Common Room. With James Potter. Dear Merlin, that would be an embarrassing subject of conversation for the rest of the year.

"Potter said he found you asleep downstairs, had us wake you up and lead you to bed." Dorcas answered her. She was sat at her desk, with makeup of a dozen dark shades strewn everywhere. One of her eyes had been circled in messy black eyeliner. 

"Oh, okay." Lily didn't try explaining what had actually happened. She was far too tired to deal with the colossal tantrum Marlene would throw if she knew the truth. Much like the fit she would take if she found out about Pettigrew and Mary dating. All the same, the fact that James lied stung a little, even if she would have down the same thing in his place. 

Marlene let her up, and Lily dashed to the bathroom to clean herself up. Merlin, her reflection looked awful. Heavy bags and unwashed hair that did not usually belong on a student as tidy and clean as Lily. She couldn't even remember the last time she had a shower. A quick sniff told her she would be fine for another day or two, but anymore than that and she'd have to soak in water for a good few hours.

When she exited the bathroom, only Marlene was stood waiting, arms folded and heel tapping impatiently against the floorboards. Somehow, she had managed to hike her knee length skirt to mid-thigh without it bunching underneath her shirt. Marlene sometimes reminded Lily of her sister (she kept that thought to herself). Dramatic, emotional, and prone to prioritising her reputation and appearance over showing the real Marlene McKinnon. The proud, flirty, confident girl everybody else saw was the mask she used to hide the truth: a teenage girl jealous of her brothers and desperate for someone to love her the same way her parents loved their sons, yet not their daughter.

For Lily, her parents had never been anything but supportive. She knew Petunia was jealous. It was obvious in the poisonous expression on her face when Lily came home, or told her mum and dad all about the amazing things she had learned at Hogwarts. Petunia, unlike Marlene, had channeled all that jealousy into hatred and disgust. The girl who had once begged to attend Hogwarts now hated everything that came out of it.

Lily followed Marlene downstairs, brushing the tats out of her hair with her fingertips as she went. Just as she reached the bottom steps, a figure blocked her way.

It was Benjy. Oh no, oh Merlin. Their date.

"So, you didn't show up yesterday." Benjy stated, coldly staring into Lily's eyes. His face was white and his hands were shaking. Lily inwardly cursed herself with every hex and charm she could come up with.

"Benjy, I'm really, really sorry, but I was asked to help someone with something and time passed so fast-"

"I saw you leave the Great Hall with James, Lily." He answered. The look in his eyes was accusatory, glimmering with hurt and betrayal that he attempted to hide behind his anger. Lily's blood ran cold. There was no warmth in her body, besides her red hair. How could she have forgotten her date with Benjy? She was so sure she had been looking forward to it.

"I know, he- he needed my help." she stuttered, trying her best to cover up the true explanation. Benjy was a sweet boy, he didn't deserve to be dragged into the mess she was trying to solve. Even if it meant keeping the truth from him. Even if it meant Lily had to lie to him.

"With what? Finding a broom closet?" Benjy muttered under his breath. Unfortunately for him, it was loud enough that Lily was able to hear him, and the warmth that had abandoned her body came flooding right back hotter than ever. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" she spat, no longer caring if the outcome of the conversation was her humiliation. She was a Gryffindor, and bravery ran through her blood.

But Benjy was just as much of a stubborn Gryffindor as Lily. "You ditched me for James Potter, of all people. I thought you two were meant to hate it each, but I saw you come into the Common Room together yesterday, and then you left the Great Hall with him too."

"I came into the Common Room with him and Sirius, Benjy! And before that we were with Amelia Bones." A small crowd was gathering. Curious little first years popped their heads out from behind older students, desperate to listen in on Lily's argument. She spotted Suze Hoffenboffer amongst them, held firm by Marlene's steady hand.

Benjy just shook his head. It was if jealousy had completely blinded him. "Look, I like you Lily, really, I do. But I'm not going to go on a date with a girl who clearly isn't as interested as she pretends to be."

And he just walked away. Lily didn't get another chance to apologise, or say anything that could make Benjy's mind change. The crowd dispersed, sighing in disappointment at not having witnessed any sort of duel.

Marlene grabbed the gaping Lily by the arm and gently pulled her towards the portrait entrance. "Come on, kiddo, let's get you to Charms."

~

Lily found herself sitting at the lake's edge after Charms class, gently ripping the still water with a twig. She couldn't work out whether anger or guilt had taken over yet, since both seemed to be working together to make her feel as low as possible.

This was stupid. She hadn't even been on a date with Benjy yet, so why did she feel so awful about him putting an end to their dangling romance? It wasn't like she'd been dating the guy. Maybe it was for the best anyway.

His accusation that she fancied James Potter stung. James was slowly becoming something of a friend to her. He'd changed a bit over the summer, seemingly growing up overnight and acting his age. But did that mean she fancied him? Godric, no. Lily was a Prefect with a responsibility to the school and to her first years. James was a troublemaker, always had been, and he never seemed to take on any responsibility, other than his role as Quidditch Captain. 

She stared out over the water, wondering about the different sorts of creatures that could be lurking beneath the calm surface. She'd spent most of her lunches by the water, watching as Dorcas played games of fetch with the Giant Squid whilst Marlene braided Alice's hair. There was even rumours of mermaids living in the darkest chasms of the lake. Often, Lily would take a copy of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Mermaid' and read it aloud to the other girls. It was often surprising to her that pure-blooded students like Alice, Dorcas and Marlene knew about muggle authors like Andersen. Apparently classic muggle literature was on the pureblood syllabus. Rather hypocritical in Lily's opinion. Many pureblood families hated muggle, shunned people like her, but were happy to read their books and use their inventions. She kept her mouth shut though, as even the most tolerant of purebloods found it hard to be criticised by someone so below their status. 

A figure dropped down beside her and pressed a small packet into her hand. Lily stared down at the chocolate frog in confusion, and turned to look at a red-eyed Sirius Black. His face was pale and blotchy where tears had obviously fallen. He attempted his famous lopsided grin, but failed to make it reach his eyes.

"Siblings, huh?" he said softly. Lily knew what he meant immediately. As much of a prick as he was, Black had a hard life. Disowned and cast aside by his parents, with a brother heading down a much darker path.

"Yeah, I get it." she replied, hoping he understood she knew the difference between his brother and Petunia. Marlene had told him about her sister before, she was sure of it.

Black nodded, letting his curly hair fall into his face. It was unusually unkempt. "You love them, don't you? Even if they despise you or stand against everything you love."

"Don't really have a choice," Lily replied. "she's my only sister, we were so close once."

"Reg and I used to be close too," Black admitted. "we all were as little kids. Me, Prongs, Andy, Narcissa. Hell, even the psychotic bitch."

"You mean Bellatrix LeStrange, right? Your cousin?" Lily asked tentatively. Bellatrix was a sore spot, even with purebloods not directly related to the crazed killer. Her reputation was matched only by her husband, brother-in-law, and You-Know-Who's himself.

"It's our parents, they poisoned us, turned us against each other," Black laughed bitterly. "James was lucky to have sane, nice parents, he didn't see the way the rest of us were raised, thank Merlin."

"I'm sorry." Lily said. It was all she could think of. Black looked close to tears again.

"I'm going to lose him- Regulus, I mean," he wiped his eyes. "I know I am. He's too much of a kid for this rubbish."

"Don't be silly, Black," Lily replied. "He'll come round, eventually. I've seen him before. He's not a bad kid, it's just the situation he's in."

"Yeah, have you seen the kids that come out of that situation?" Black snapped. His tears shielded the grey irises hidden beneath. "Avery, Mulciber, Rosier, and Snivellus- yeah, face it Evans, Snivellus is going to finish school and start torturing muggleborns and anyone his 'Dark Lord' asks him to. Your friendship didn't mean jack, apparently, because he's turned just as dark as every other snake that slithers out of this castle."

Lily straightened up, and answered coolly, "Funny, because I know for a fact that Andromeda and James' mum were some of those snakes. Would you say they were dark fanatics?"

Black tried to jump hurdles over his poorly-chosen words. "Andy and Dorea, they're different."

"Snape used to tell me I was different," Lily admitted. She reached out and gently brushed the water, watching it ripple across the lake. "from other muggleborns, I mean. Said that no pureblood would ever be able to tell I wasn't one of them, because I was just so good at magic," she looked at Black through locks of her own hair. His teary eyes mirrored hers. "what he meant was that he didn't want to see me as a muggleborns. Because that meant admitting we weren't inferior at all."

"I know," Black skimmed a stone across the lake, watching it's own ripples race Lily's. "Marlene- she tried to tell you. You never wanted to listen, because it meant giving up on him."

The clocktower chimed, which meant Lily had only minutes to reach Slughorn's classroom. Black sighed and stood up, offering his hand to her. She took it and smiled at him, hoping it would make him feel a little less alone. They walked across the grass together and through the doors, venturing down into the dungeons. Most of the class had just begun to file into the class, leaving them time to quickly slip inside. Lily took her seat next to Marlene, separating the girl from Potter and Black. She watched as Potter glanced at Black warily, his eyes widening questioningly as the other boy quickly turned the other way to avoid being seen upset. Lily felt so rude as she watched Potter place his arm around his best friend, squeezing gently. He whispered something in Black's ear that convinced the lad to turn around.

Slughorn ambled to his front desk at his own leisurely pace, patting pants and chortling in amusement. Lily tuned out as he began to explain some potion she had pre-studied the previous year. Her conversation with Sirius Black brought her attention to the other side of the class. Snape was hunched over in the corner, but his eyes remained focused on her. He began to mouth something, and she turned away before the words 'I'm sorry' could finish forming. 

Black, somehow, was right. She had tried so hard to keep her friendship with Snape, because he was her first real connection to magic. In return, he had shunned people like her, but made exceptions because he liked her. It told Lily everything she needed to know about where he stood. Snape didn't truly believe muggleborns were inferior, he would have thought the same about her if that was the case. No, his hatred stemmed from a dislike for the muggle blood running through their veins. She knew that. Lily felt like she had always known. But like Black had said, she had tried so hard to see the good in Snape that she had turned a blind eye to the prejudiced, hateful man he truly was. But she saw him now, for what he really was.

"And finally, onto the final announcement before we begin, mm?" Slughorn bellowed. "my annual Welcome Back party will be taking place this weekend, and I shall expect all of my regulars to be stopping by for a quick Butterbeer or two, eh? Of course, I shall understand if you have better plans." Lily knew all too well that Slughorn wouldn't take no for an answer. For a muggleborns like Lily, having connections with someone as well-liked and popular as Slughorn was a blessing. If she ever wanted her Master Potions License, she would have to suck up to Slughorn, as much as Lily hated it. 

He passed her as they walked on their potions, complimenting Lily's stirring technique. He stopped to observe Snape mixing his own potion, and Lily caught snippets of their conversation.

"A wonderful concoction, Severus." the old man beamed, grinning at the sullen Slytherin boy. 

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, I can expect you this weekend, mm?" 

"Of course, sir." Lily's hands froze. Her potion ladle slipping from her grasp as she stopped to whip her head around and look in Snape's direction. Merlin, how was she meant to attend the party with him there? They both wanted the same thing from Slughorn, which meant spending even more time together. If she went alone, she'd be stuck with him all night, and Lily honestly didn't know if her heart could take confronting him again.

That fear turned to rage. They could have had such a great time together if he'd never taken up with You-Know-Who. They could have taken their licenses together, and maybe ran a little potions store. Lily and Severus, best friends until they were wrinkly and grumpy. They'd ruined it. He'd ruined it.

A hand tapped her on the shoulder. 

"You zoning out there, Evans?" Potter asked teasingly.

"Come to Slughorn's party with me." Sweet Morgana, had she really just blurted that out loud? The whole room had stopped in time. Even Slughorn was speechless. From the corner of Lily's eye, she saw Snape's face drain of any slight colour he'd previously possessed.

Potter spluttered. "Excuse me?"

It was too late to back down now. She felt awful for playing around with Potter's emotions for the sake of petty revenge. Lily swallowed loudly, but held her ground. "Slughorn's party. I want you to come with me as my- as my escort."

It was the worst choice of words she could make to a pureblood. She knew how Wizarding High Society worked, thanks to Marlene. Now that Lily had asked Potter to join her as an escort, it would be the height of disrespect for him to refuse. For a wizard to refuse escort to a witch was to say she was unworthy of protection. And Lily knew, deep down, James Potter was raised a gentleman.

His pupils blown wide, Potter nodded. Lily shrugged her shoulders, trying to appear nonchalant, and returned to her work. She covertly looked around the room. Black, Marlene, and the Slytherins wore matching looks of shock. Rosier stared right at her, seemingly lost in thought.

When she turned to glance back at Snape, his seat was empty. 


	17. Slug Club

Lily leaned against the sink and applied the Curling Solution for what felt like the hundredth time in the last thirty minutes.

"I thought you weren't bothered about your hair?" Marlene asked wryly, pressing her head against the bathroom door. It was the first time she'd spoken to Lily with full sentences since Potions several days before. 

"I always curl my hair like this for Slughorn's parties." Lily reasoned. Marlene rolled her eyes but didn't reply.

Finally happy with how she looked, Lily moved to her bed, where her cat Bobbins had taken up residence, tucked into the creases of her blanket. Lily warily shook out her dress robes in case the little tyke had crawled on it and left hair.

"Green dress robes?" Mary teased. She sat cross-legged on her bed, a copy of The Daily Prophet in her lap. There was ink on the side of her nose. "I can't imagine Potter allowing that."

"He seemed fine with it when I told him." Lily replied, pulling off her nightgown. Potter had even suggested buying silver cufflinks and a green handkerchief to match her dress robes and jewellery. Lily had quickly vetoed that. He was her escort, not her boyfriend. She didn't want anyone getting the wrong impression.

Though asking Potter to the meeting in the first place had probably buggered that.

"His mother was a Slytherin, you know," Dorcas piped up.

"She was?" Mary asked.

Dorcas slid off her bed and sat down by Mary's bed. Bobbins jumped down to curl in Dorcas' arms, purring contentedly. Traitor.

Lily pulled the dress robes over her head, fastening them tightly. Two simple bracelets and a necklace with a lily pendant (a gift from her parents for Christmas) later, she felt ready.

"You look absolutely amazing, Lily," Mary breathed. Dorcas and Alice voiced their agreement. Lily glanced at where Marlene lay on her bed, back turned to the others. Dorcas lowered her voice and jabbed a thumb in Marlene's direction, "she'll get over it in a few days, just give her time."

"Right then," Lily shuffled to the door, praising Merlin she'd chosen flat shoes for the night. "wish me luck, witches."

"Have fun!"

"Have a nice night, Lily."

"Don't come home drunk!"

The door swung shut behind her as Lily walked down the stairs to the Common Room. Despite promising he would meet her down there, Potter was nowhere in sight. Already, self-consciousness was setting in. There was nobody to see her but the portraits, who were keeping whatever snide comments they may make to themselves. But their eyes followed her around the room.

Lily stepped towards the crackling fireplace, staring into the depths of the flames as they danced around. Should she sit down? Or would that seem like she was lazy or bored already? Merlin, where was Potter?

"Woah." Lily turned around and, as if by magic- and likely so- there he was. His hair was still as messy as ever, but he'd cleaned up nicely with fitting black dressrobes. She spied a set of silver cufflinks in the shape of four intertwining lilies. How typical of him to not listen to a word she said.

Lily couldn't stop the heated blush from burning through her skin. She mumbled a thanks.

Potter held out his arm, and Lily hesitantly took it. Together, they made their way out of the Gryffindor Common Room in silence, and down the stairs towards Slughorn's party. Potter had stayed silent throughout the entire stroll. Lily found this to be a little suspicious, and she couldn't help but glance at him every so often to see if he was ready to speak. She didn't want to say something first; her habit of putting her foot in her mouth could ruin an already awkward moment.

It was easy to find where Slughorn was hosting his party due to the bright flashing lights escaping from under the door, plus the sounds of laughter.

"May I?" Potter asked, gesturing to the door handle. Lily rolled her eyes, but let him play the gentleman, if only for his enormous ego.

The party was in full swing. Lily stuck like glue to Potter's side, as splitting up would surely end with her lost in the sea of people milling around the room. Glasses clinked every side of her, constantly refilling with Butterbeer and Firewhiskey. An assortment of sweets and other delicious foods were piled high on the table. Lily couldn't stop herself from snatching up some treacle tart as she and Potter walked past. He chuckled under his breath.

Slughorn turned around as they came up behind him, patting his belly and chortling at some joke a witch in a purple flowery hat had made.

"Ho, Lily! And James, of course, I most certainly didn't expect you to be invited- by Miss Evans, of all people." Slughorn clasped his hands together. Lily could imagine him rubbing his hands together like some sort of comic villain, bursting with excitement at the thought of having the heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Potter at his party. Even mentioning Potter's name would have all sorts of sports teams and companies throwing themselves at Slughorn, hoping to earn favour with a Noble House. 

"Good evening, Professor," Potter replied, plastering on the fakest, most polite smile Lily had ever seen gracing his face. Slughorn, of course, ate it up. "once again, you've outdone your ability to plan the most outrageous parties."

Slughorn beamed, rocking back and forth on his heels. Lily had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes so much it hurt. Potter could be such a suck up when he needed to be.

"Well, I do hope you'll enjoy yourselves- I imagine you'll run into your uncle somewhere in this crowd." Slughorn pointed to the crowd, brandy in hand. It sloshed to the floor, where he looked at it quite solemnly.

"My Uncle Fleamont is here?" James asked, surprise gracing his face. Lily, once again, suppressed her actual feeling. Laughing at James' Uncle's name would be awful, even if it was a ridiculous name. It seemed all purebloods chose the strangest names they could find, cursing their children to a lifetime of sniggering and the occasional innuendo. And Lily had thought being named after flowers was bad. At least she wasn't called Octavia or Narcissa.

"Hmm, yes of course m'dear boy!" Slughorn beckoned for the two of them to follow him. Lily trailed after Slughorn, who waddled through the crowds, getting everyone and clasping hands with a few. She spotted a few Slytherin students watching them from the sides of the room. "ah, Mr Potter! Look who I've brought you."

James' Uncle Fleamont didn't really resemble Potter, in Lily's eyes. He had light brown hair, with a much more tanned complexion, and he was shorter. But as Lily looked closely, she saw the resemblance. His hair was messy. His smile was polite, yet his hazel eyes gleamed with a mischief she had come to associate solely with Potter. They were family, for sure.

"Jamie!" the man bellowed, pulling Potter into a tight hug. Lily could hear Potter gasping for air before his Uncle Fleamont released him. A short woman with fiery red hair pulled Potter back in. Lily guessed this was his Aunt Euphemia. Another unusual name, of course. 

"Hello Uncle." Potter replied. His smile was wide and genuine. 

"Surprised you turned up to this bash, old Horace has never had you here before," Fleamont slapped James across the back. His attention turned to Lily when he saw her standing there. She was unnerved by the apparent recognition. "this must be Miss Lily Evans, eh?"

"Umm, it is, yes." Potter admitted sheepishly.

Before she could introduce herself properly, Lily too had been picked up in a crushing hug. She physically felt her feet lift from the ground. James' Aunt was less overpowering. 

"It's so nice to meet you Lily," Euphemia smiled warmly. "Jamie is always mentioning you when we visit- though I am surprised to see the two of you being so friendly." she added, glancing between them. Instinctively, Lily shuffled a little further from Potter.

"We've, eh, uhh..." Potter, for once, seemed lost for words. Merlin, and Lily couldn't even relish in it. 

She swooped in to save Potter, if only to stop her own second-hand embarrassment. "Pot- James and I have decided to settle our difference, since we've only got this year and the next at Hogwarts."

Potter's shoulder's sagged in relief.

"Well, I'm glad that little rivalry ended itself," Fleamont said. "Jamie told us last Christmas that you were a bit of a whiz at Potions, Lily."

"I suppose I enjoy it." Lily answered.

Potter rolled his eyes and cut in, "She's the best in class, other than Snape." 

"Best in class, eh?" Fleamont repeated. He leaned in and smiled. "planning on putting those skills to use after Hogwarts?" 

Lily nodded. "I want to run an apothecary business."

"An apothecary, eh?" Fleamont boomed. He itched his beard in thought.

"Monty, my dearest, perhaps you could lend a hand to Jamie's friend?" Euphemia chipped in, dropping her head into Fleamont's shoulder. It warmed Lily's heart to see a couple so in love, that she wondered if James' parents were so affectionate. And if so, how had they produced such a loathsome troll of a son? 

"Excuse me?" Lily asked, confused. 

"I'm considered something of an expert in potions making," Fleamont explained. "which means I'm able to award Potions Licenses."

Lily's excitement rose. If James' uncle gave her a Potions License, she'd be able to open her apothecary much earlier than she'd expected to. It felt like all those days spent in the library absorbing information had finally paid off.

Over Fleamont's shoulder, Lily spied a tall, dark haired boy in stiff dress robes, clearly rented. Snape hadn't noticed her yet, which she praised Morgana for over and over. The way he'd reacted when she'd invited James to the party had simultaneously filled her with satisfaction and broken her heart. Lily had hurt him, and hurt him on purpose. That famous Evans fire had ripped through her body.

As if he sensed her watching, his head turned to stare back. His dark, cold eyes caused Lily to shiver involuntarily. As quick as he had looked, Snape turned away. 

"Are you okay dear?" Euphemia asked. Lily jolted back into reality. 

"Yes, I'm fine. Just zoned out a smidge." she lied. Snape still had his back turned, unmoving, unshaken. It was Lily who's nerves were alight. 

The music stopped for a minute as the radio was shut off. Slughorn clapped his hands as a small band approached the staging area and began to play. Light, airy music filled the room. Couples quickly took to the centre and were dancing around. Lily looked over, and wondered how such a big party could fit in the office. It always felt so much smaller every other time of the year. 

"May I?" Potter asked, holding out his hand. He fluttered his eyelashes, and Lily had to hold back her laughter. Fleamont and Euphemia had already swept onto the dance floor.

"I suppose so." Lily huffed, gripping his hand. Potter pulled her onto the floor and placed his other hand on her waist, being careful not to grip to tightly. Lily was thankful for the slow pace. It meant there was less chance she'd step on Potter's feet. 

"I know he's lurking around behind us, Evans." Potter murmured.

"Who?" Lily asked, trying to sound confused.

Potter sighed. Bugger. "You know who I'm talking about. I saw you staring across the room earlier like you'd just watched Nearly-Headless Nick stroll in."

"I don't think it's anything to worry about," Lily replied coolly. "look, I know you hate him-"

"Oh, that doesn't even begin to describe my feelings towards Snape," Potter's voice exuded a bitter fire Lily had only ever heard in regards to Snape. "loathed, perhaps- despise, most definitely."

"Potter..." she warned.

"Right, sorry," Potter held up his hands defensively for moment. He placed them back into their original position gingerly, as if she was a gobstone ready to explode. "actually, I'm not. He's a bastard and you of all people should know what I mean."

Lily's face fell. It wasn't something she could deny. Just before summer, she had lost what she had believed to be her greatest friend. Lily had spent all summer telling herself she hated him, only to find herself trying desperately to keep Snape happy. Lying about her friendship with Potter, desperately refusing to admit he could be as bad as his friends.

"I get it," Potter continued. "well, not the whole 'Snivellus is my friend' part, but I get why you still defend him."

"And whys that?" Lily asked. Part of her was annoyed that Potter thought he understood her so well. The other part held a genuine curiosity.

"Loyalty. Its your biggest flaw." he replied, smiling. The song playing above the shifted, turning into a melodic twist of sharp flutes and light harp.

"I thought that was my temper." Lily retorted. Potter shook his head lightly, and continued to turn them slowly in a circle.

"Snape called you a m- a- well, you know what, and despite that, you still pity him. I know he was your first connection to the magic world, and I'm fairly certain you were his only friend growing up because, well, it's Snape." Potter looked down at her through his glasses. They did nothing to hide the colour of his eyes. Lily noticed they were slightly hooded. She took note of his high cheekbones, his fuller bottom lip, his raven black hair, and saw his mother's family through them. She couldn't remember ever seeing how much he and Sirius resembled one another. Maybe she hadn't looked hard enough.

"I just..." Lily trailed off, her point was lost. "I don't know. It's like I've been dream for five whole years, and I've only just woken up, but it's still kind of in the back of my head, you know? I ignored all the horrible things he'd say or do because he'd been there for me from the beginning. But now..."

"Now you're seeing things clearly." Potter finished her sentence.

"I guess so," Lily looked down at her feet as the song quickened. "He always told me I was different from other muggleborns, that I was special. But I know what he meant now. I was different because he liked me. If I'd just been another girl in the crowd he'd have treated me like he does every other muggleborn."

The way he treated other muggleborns was left unspoken. 

"You are special," Potter replied quickly. Lily felt the palm of his hand in hers heating up. "maybe not in the way Snape saw you, but you are special." 

"Is that meant to be a compliment?" she asked sharply. His fingertips trembled at her waist as he swallowed his breath. 

"What, of course! It just didn't come out right," Potter took a deep breath. "look, Lily, I-" 

"The lows you stoop to amaze even me, Lily." a dark, gutteral voice sneered from behind her. She let go of Potter's hand like it burned and spun around. Snape's hair hung in his eyes, masking whatever expression they held. His mouth was pressed into a thin line. 

Potter's words about loyalty being her greatest flaw pushed themselves to her mind, like he was whispering in her ear. "What I do is none of your concern now. Or ever, in fact."

Her voice rose with each word. Slowly, faces in the crowd were turning, pausing their dance to spy on the drama unfolding. 

Snape's upper lip curled. He bared his teeth as he let out an amused huff." I really don't understand you. You stand in the street and tell me you hate him at Christmas, and now you're slow dancing together?" 

"This isn't somewhere you want to start this." Potter warned. 

Even Potter's voice was enough to rile Severus up. His hands curled into claws as he snarled "stay out of this, its between me and her." 

"Her has a name," Lily replied. It was fifth year all over again. "and he's right, you're only embarrassing yourself."

"No, Lily, you're the embarrassment!" Severus' face lost all colour, draining to the colour of parchment. "juggling between pleasing me and him this entire year. You can't have us both." 

"Why don't we calm down there, son?" A loud voice boomed. Fleamont Potter parted the sea of curious onlookers, his wife by his side. Slughorn's face appeared from behind him, hands wringing. Fleamont looked between his nephew, Lily and Snape. "either take this kerfuffle outside or enjoy the party like everybody else would bloody like to."

The other guests, sensing the warning in Fleamont's tone, went back to their activities. Snape and Potter locked eyes and began walking brusquely towards the door. Lily jogged behind them, her heels clattering along the stone floors as she passed from the party into the dark corridor. 

"First things first, Snape, I didn't come out here to fight you," Potter began. There was no time to explain his reasons, as Snape ripped his wand from his robes. Potter sidestepped and lurched forward, knocking the wand out of hand. It clattered to the floor, where Lily picked it up, balancing it between her thin fingers. 

Snape stumbled back, mouth agape. "So this is who you keep in your company now? A man who fights with his fists instead of his wand?" he sneered at Potter. "such a bold, Gryffindor move, to disarm your opponent rather than fight." 

"Last I checked, avoiding fights came from your house, not mine," Potter shot back. He straightened the sleeves of his robes. 

"Shut up Potter!" Snape glared at them both, settling on Lily. She tensed, having never truly been subjected to Snape's scathing looks. She had always been on the other side of them. "So, you're his pal now? I'm not good enough, but he is?" 

"Aside from the fact that you're a Death Eater, right?" Lily asked, watching as the shadows cast on his face shifted with his head as he looked down. "No, I'm meant to ignore that part, aren't I? Just like I used to ignore it when you joined Avery and Mulciber in treating everyone who wasn't of 'pure' blood like scum."

"And Potter didn't treat everyone like they were beneath him?" he replied, spittle flying. 

"Potter never did it because he was a pureblood, he did it because he was a prick."

"I am still here, you know. " Potter muttered. 

"My point is," Lily continued. "I didn't choose to stop being friends with you, Severus, even though I should have. You did. You called me a mudblood. You chose the Death Eaters." both boys flinched at the word. 

"At least my friends are people." Snape hissed.

"What is that even meant to mean?" Lily asked, laughing. Was it some sort of attempt to dig his way out of trouble? 

"He knows." Snape jerked his head at Potter. The other boy's entire body tensed. Lily had never seen Potter look so scared. 

"Shut up." Potter spoke softly, but there was a storm beneath the whisper. Snape's eyes glittered with malice.

"When Potter so kindly saved my life, I found out the truth," Snape crowed. "what him and his friends had tried to keep from me for so long. I was right Lily, about Lupin."

"Shut up or I'm going to-" Potter threatened, but Snape was too far gone. His face was riddled with a maddened delight, like a child who had finally found where his parents hid the Christmas presents."

"I saw it Lily, or, more like I saw Lupin. He's a werewolf."

If Snape had planned on saying something else, he had no time to. Potter flew at him and knocked him to the ground. Lily could only watch in horror as both boys rolled on the floor, until Potter regained the upper hand. Reality snapped back into place as she heard the sickening crunch of Potter's fist colliding with Snape's mouth. 

"Stop! Stop it!" she cried. The music of the party was blocking party goers from hearing their scuffle. Potter didn't listen, he just kept hitting Snape, who's mouth was gushing blood. "Potter! James!" 

Potter paused, fist raised and bloody. Wordlessly, he stood up and moved away from Snape's limp body, curled into the foetal position on the floor. Without pausing, he simply turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the corridor. 

Lily stepped closer to Snape, glancing at his bruised face, his busted lip. He squinted at her through his swollen eye. 

"Can you walk?" she asked. Snape nodded. "then go to the Hospital Wing, quickly."

Then Lily turned away, and walked the same way Potter had.


End file.
